With you I lay on the grass watching clouds sail on, while golden afternoons turned pink. Elephant! I shrieked and pointed. You knotted your brows, pursed your lips and stared hard to let our minds fall in sync. For you to find, I hid in dirty garages, behind dumpsters, on leafy branches. With you, racing, I scraped my knees, elbows and almost all skin visible from my printed cotton frocks.
For you I cheered until my voice was hoarse. For me you brought back medals and trophies. Your sweaty shirt, plopped hair, dirty face, bloody feet and a cocky raised eyebrow. With you I realised my face was chubby and legs too thin. For you I chose what to wear and waited for the cocky raised eyebrow. With you began midnight calls, swollen eyes and mosquito bitten legs the next dawn.
You taught me to run across busy roads and jump down from moving busses. With you I sat at train doors, scattered with fruit peels, nuts and flattened rice, while our hairs tried to fly away with our scalps. We watched tiny specks of lights run past in the darkness as I made up stories about the people living in the light, and you tapped your cigarette away from condescending eyes.
From you I learned patience. For you I learned to give up pieces. With you I dreamed on and with you I believed. In the strokes of your pencil I was beautiful and I watched as your fingers moved while eyes didn’t. Don’t smile, don’t talk, don’t move, you warned. We laughed. Papers were forgotten then.
With you nights dissolved into days. With you sleep wasn’t needed. For you long walks were taken, sometimes through dark winded roads and sometimes through darker more twisted minds. With you stories were exchanged, of unknown yet familiar childhoods, of books and poetry, of love and jazz. Joints were rolled and dreams unfurled. With you guilty pleasures were unabashedly confessed.
For you I still sit waiting at night
For you I still smile and sigh
For our story, yours and mine
still lurks just beyond sight.
