If We Ever Stop Talking Poem by Nour AbouelSaad

If we ever stop talking,
Send me a song,
A eulogy to an unfinished story,
That will eternally remain unfinished,
Send me words that will haunt me for years to come, to momentarily drown my eyes in tears which will never reach the curvature between my chin and neck,
Send me apologies and regrets,
Alternatives to the reality that happened,
Answers to the questions we left hanging between us,
Pick your song wisely,
And be confident in your choice,
As this will be the last memory I will have of you,
In weeks, I will fail to recall the scent that lingers from your exhausted pores,
In months, I will forget the constellations of freckles that drape all over your nose,
In years, I will miss your birthday, and how it mattered and how it may currently matter to someone else, who is not me,
But I will remember this song,
I will play it often,
Until I master its tune,
Until I absentmindedly start singing it in the shower before I tell myself that this is not a shower song,
I will try to picture us in every word,
I will imagine you listening to it too,
On your late drive back home,
With some one else,
Taking the passenger seat,
Dreading that boring sappy song,
That you keep repeating,
Whilst looking both hazed and hurt,
You will never claim this song to be special,
And I will never credit it for more than its worth,
But I will silently wish to hear it,
By accident,
On a gloomy day when I need to remember that you were there once,
And that I asked you,
If we ever stop talking,
To send me a song.

Photo Credit:  Salah Diaa