Some Men Are Like That Poem by Sumita Jetley

He never stayed, he never tried,
The road kept calling, the winds untied.
A suitcase, a city, a fleeting name,
Everywhere different, yet all the same.

She knew the signs, the restless haze,
The distant look, the shrinking stays.
"One more goodbye? " she asked that night,
A folded note, a coffee light.

'Read it after you leave, ' she said,
And walked away with words unsaid.

The airport buzzed, a boarding call,
Ayaan stood still, watched it all.
A plane to Bali, a life well-planned,
Yet in his hand, a note, a strand—

Unfolded letters, five words deep,
A truth once buried, now losing sleep.

'She's in Delhi. Your daughter.'

He'd never known, he'd never guessed,
A love unspoken, a truth suppressed.
A name, a face, a small dark eye,
Did she wonder? Did she cry?

Some men wander, never belong,
Some hear echoes but move along.
But sometimes fate rewrites the past,
A second chance, a choice to last.

A doorway waits, a tiny frame,
A little girl who knows his name.
She holds a rabbit, grips it tight,
Her mother silent, bathed in light.

'Is he staying? '—her voice unsure,
Ayaan exhales, 'I want to. I'm sure.'
But children don't trust words alone,
They trust what lingers, what becomes home.

She draws a tree, its roots are strong,
She asks if the wind ever stays for long.
Ayaan kneels down, his heart beats wild,
'Maybe today, ' he tells his child.

Some men wander, some men roam,
But sometimes, just sometimes,
They find their way home.