Deepak Vohra

You and your Memory

You and Your Memory 

 

when you’re gone,

your memory returns 

like a smile

pressed inside an old diary,

a rose still breathing in paper.

each time I open it,

the air fills with you.

 

you 

a sweet thirst,

a quiet promise

the world keeps waiting for.

 

at night,

when the fields fall asleep

and the fires grow cold,

your memory comes —

lays a hand on my shoulder

and sits beside me

without a word.

 

you\'d ask:

why do you love me

this much?

 

I don\'t know.

maybe because

you just keep happening to me —

 

in teacups,

in warm bread,

in the folds of books,

in songs I never meant to write.

 

last night,

you came again.

quietly.

stood near.

your lips moved.

I almost heard you.

 

sometimes I’m afraid —

you’re only a dream.

or an old poem

I never finished.

 

but you’re here.

I know it.

all around me —

 

like the air,

like the soil,

like that one song

still waiting

to find its voice.