A Strong Word Poem by Sharmila Ray

Missing you is a strong word.
It has a smell to it, mushy and oppressive.
Sometimes, in the dead of the night the word condenses
before it scatters into hundreds of colour photographs.
I put my hand over my eyes so as not to be dazzled.
Yet, the word blinks at me, blue –
a deep, deep blue.
I wake up as dawn breaks
and the word melts
carries a different smell,
cool and damp of ferns
of earth and old leaves
and, perhaps,
knives.