# A Stranger Within My Eternal Reverie Poem by Aman Basnet

*What ethereal world has opened before me? *

Silver skies stretched endlessly above,
unfamiliar flowers bloomed beneath my feet,
and the air felt weightless.
Even the silence seemed alive.

Then, through the distant mist,
I saw her.

Her hair danced with the wind,
while her face remained hidden
beneath a veil of snow-white fog.

Her beauty surpassed
even the celestial figures of ancient tales.

I did not know her.
I had no memory of her.

Yet somehow,
I felt as though I had known her forever.

She walked away,
and I followed.

Not because she asked me to,
nor because I knew where she was going,
but because something within my aching heart whispered—

*Don't let her disappear.*

Through enchanted forests,
silent oceans, ruined temples,
and fields scattered with stars,
I followed her deeper into the dream.

I still could not see her face.

Yet I was already devoted
to a stranger.

Then she turned.

For the first time,
I saw her clearly.

She was more beautiful
than anything mortal—or heavenly—could describe.

Then she smiled.

But not at me.

Her eyes were fixed upon someone behind me.

And suddenly, I understood.

I had spent the entire journey
walking toward someone
who had been walking toward another.

The stranger beside her looked at me.

*'Who is he? '*

She turned.

Her eyes widened.

*'Who are you? '*

And then I knew.

I was never part of her dream.

I was only a stranger
wandering through it.

The world began to fade.

My body ached.
My vision grew pale.

Then I heard birds chirping.

I opened my eyes.

An empty room.

Morning light.

I had never known her name.
Never touched her hand.
Never heard her voice.

She was a stranger.

Yet somehow,

she remained
the most familiar heartbreak
I had ever known.