Ostentatious Reality Poem by Farina Afrin Malik

Why is it wherever I look
I see you
It isn’t really you though
Just someone who resembles you
the way you carried headphones
around your neck
The way you wore striped tees
and baggy pants
Sometimes you’d switch on the lights
on your nerdy glasses
and I’d think it weird
But at the same time
it seemed perfect somehow
And in the midst of it all
with squinted eyes you looked at me
the way no one ever did
it’s as though you knew me
better than I knew myself
and without a second of a doubt
you loved me for it
Never in my wildest dreams
did I think I’d ever see you that way
or anyone
but when I did see you it was too late
It wasn’t just that though
it was your hair which was always ruffled
and your unkempt features
those burly hands
which I longed to interlock in mine
your outstanding tallness
I found soothing for I felt protected
Sometimes I’d look and wonder if I was mad
To care
Except I wasn’t
To me what you were was more than just a face
you meant something
Unlike so many who stood in my life
You were a beacon
Of opportunity, of hope and of a new tomorrow
It seems silly to sit
and wonder about these things
since they are so long ago
and with so much in-between
But I believe that although
beacons go out
once lit
even the embers of the fire
continue burning