I Do (Not) Possess Poem by Jainab Tabassum Banu

There is a subtle madness
In possessing what is not mine.

I spent the whole night
Kissing, hugging and cuddling Mr. Hypnos
Who is not mine,
But in possession of the entire living race.

He sings my favourite lullaby
Which intoxicates me
More than a clear glass of whiskey would do
And then leaves me in illusion.

I form, deform and reform
Images of my own.
I possess a few traits
Which do not belong to me.

Then I wake up
And mingle with the winter breeze.
I do not possess this dense fog,
Still I live in the delusion of its dizziness.

I look into the mirror
And find an unknown self.
It was my other.
I called her 'she'.

I have been othering her
As if she would never belong to me.
Now that I know her,
She is mine and mine only.

Dear self,
Stay unlike Mr. Hypnos,
Unlike this winter mist,
Unlike the intoxication of a glass of wine.