An Illusion of Love

– Mawra Nasib

As the night falls and the darkness surrounds me
I am reminded of you again.
Sometimes the tears fall down my cheek
And sometimes a faint smile appears across my face
And I can feel your warm, loving arms embracing my soul while we danced
Hands in hands,eyes locked and the soft giggles that followed
I remember the first time we met amidst the squeals of children,
rattling of mothers and sounds of screeching trolleys,
in a nearby park,
We sat on a bench about a hand apart
Under the tree over which magpies were singing as if celebrating
While we watched that crimson,delicate sun setting in the west
I remember it casting shadows,
while I stole a glance on your perfect face.

Now it all feels like a dream, like the crumbled pieces of a wonderland
that never existed.
And touché !
I am reminded by every twinkle of the star
that I was a fool.

Oh how I gave my heart to you and now how its pieces
is being carried away by the wind
like the sand grains lying somewhere abandoned.
And now with every smirk of the moon the remaining of it comes to my throat.
And it’s an irony that the meteors in front of which you promised
me your everything now hurls towards me
I should have known that after all it was just a burning fireball
And the same magpies that celebrated us now mock me
And that innocent park now feels like a graveyard
of long lost memories.

And my heart sinks deeper into the ocean of tears lovingly left by you.

I want to come out
but this grave of memories in which I am buried
is way too deep.
And now not a single piece of my heart wants you
For when I look back and think of your hazel eyes boring into mine
I understand that all I saw was just an illusion, like phosphenes,
which when I will open my eyes will be gone,
gone beyond my reach.