Goodbye Regrets Poem by Tharuna Devchand

An old woman sat on a foot high wall;
her wisdom etched wrinkles into my youth
as her hand called. At 'Hello, ' I saw you:
Your lips were stitched with last night's feud;
our last words scrolling through your eyes
like a broken teleprompter re-and-re-repeating.

The woman’s faceless head watched you and I part
back to back like the million times before.
Her lips were moving as I turned towards a bluest sky
to hold back tears... and there you were:
wafting above with your mocking finger pointing down at me
like I was the slaved immigrant of your empire.

A passing car hooted, and there you were:
greeting me with goodbye regrets
that taunted me like a broken heart.

Shoe leading shoe I walked with you
to a little girl swinging merrily.
And as she smiled, I saw you:
you jumped around with clown-like feet,
flapping your arms like you could fly.
You danced me into your oneiric bliss,
magnetising me as your polar opposite.

But the old woman's wrinkled wisdom had burnt into me
the dark side of your wooing heart.
And back to back we parted once more.
With shoe leading shoe, I walked with you
until every bird, bench and tree reminded me of
only me.