Jaya Yadav
LADY SHRI RAM COLLEGE FOR WOMEN, NEW DELHI, INDIA

The flames soar
Ashes float into space
Hear the oceans roar
This is love’s rage

It’s deep, it’s brutal
It’s tsunamic, suicidal

The sun blazes red
The sky turns blue
The anger burns the dead
As I don’t say I love you

So I sit and write
You sit and wait
Till the sun’s out of sight
I say your name into hollow space

We’re separated by a twist of fate
I can’t even say it’s too late

This too shall pass
Like the star that shines before it burns
My love will last
Far beyond the pages as you turn

So we part like the red sea without a staff
No goodbyes were needed, we’ve come too far

I can’t turn around for one last gaze
Love just turned out to be maze

I can’t turn around for one last look
It shows me the path you took

I won’t wait for someone who would never return
And my last wish is only for you to learn

It’s painful, painless
In faith I confess
As the universe conspires
Against all my desires

I wouldn’t step onto a pyre¹
My love isn’t for hire

So I guess this is where I bid adieu
Without saying I might’ve never loved you.

¹ Refers to the ancient Hindu practice of sati, where a widowed Hindu woman would immolate herself on her husband’s pyre. It has been outlawed since 1829.