Bridge Poem by Shreej k.c

There are times when words
get caught in your throat
and you wish you cared less
so you could talk about it more
while they share apols and experiences
grimly, in the most unfamiliar tone
like an empath trying to feed the ego
you don't even own.
Can you blame them just 'cause your soul speaks
different or yourself for lacking their tricks
No, you just learn empathy sometimes mimics more
besides soothing, a dagger scrapping the sore.
Just blend it with humour and taste the bitter
better hiding bitterness to save
them from feeling the same.
You just learn to forgive yourself
and pray that a day it encompasses them.

There are times when they make you feel
like Gatsby staring at the green light
at the end of Daisy's dock
as if you seek, they possess and deserve
the idealised perfection;
make your dream seem orgastic-
a longing to re-create the dead past
as though you are blind to see them
receding year by year.
You just close eyes, try to hum lullaby
coaxing your sick heart not to cry;
to build a nest in the middle way
so it can rest and sleep without sway;
to build between reality and dream, a bridge
so it can thrive in paradoxes and ambiguities
until it swells enough to supply non-healing,
to welcome inutile empathies and apologies.