Dead Words Poem by Shipra Agarwal

I read my old songs and know by memory
that they were about you.
But they don't paint any picture for me now.

I remember how people used to
sniff you out in them.
But that fragrance doesn't reach me any more.

The living, breathing words of my poetry
have also shriveled down
along with the petals of my feelings.

You know how much I hate dead flowers,
how they depress me!
Don't ask me then,
why I burned down all my old songs.