My nocturnal fortunes were never fair:
I couldn't ever see
Srinagar skies with you,
gifting you shapes in the stars
sliced like cakes,
whichever shape you wished.
Stars, skies and shapes
I lost everything;
I lost the shape that emerged
out of your womanly body
into motherhood.
Your gustatory shift from tea to coffee,
I lost too,
your sartorial mutations.
I lost your acquisition
of driving licence
or the coordination you acquired
between your hands, feet and eyes
that was absent
in your life.
The alignment of your lips and tongue
is not the same as I left them quivering then,
I have lost the sound
of words
that you pronounce differently now.
I lost in a lifetime
what others gain in one
And you
And you
And you
