Now You Tell Me… Poem by Prathibha Nandakumar

Fear of the unknown and known
Fear of receiving too much love
Fear of someone holding a mirror
to your inadequacies.
Now you tell me…

Loosing sleep over hundred years
And daily praying in your name
gave you intolerable migraines
Now you tell me

Every touch and hug and kiss
given, seeking eternal bliss
burned you of mortal fears
Now you tell me

Every morsel made with
ingredients of pure, hopeless
belonging gave you indigestion
Now you tell me.

A time for love and a time
for longing replace the never ending
times of nightmares
Now you tell me

The bird is free to fly away and
return if it wishes, the doors were never locked
And the food and water were an obligation
Now you tell me

To let go was never an issue
with what never belonged.

What I feared you would fear
I must face now fearing