You, Under The Moonlight

By Shruti Mehta

I wonder how long the quiet nights

Had to plan to arrange

That clandestine arrangement of ours

I wonder if the sun excused himself early

Leaving the summer sky forlon

Just to give us some privacy

I wonder if the streetlights spoke in morse code

To have you be the only person drenched

In their golden glow

Aloof yet lonesome lover in lithium yellow

And when they fatigued themselves

I wonder if the moon stepped in

And gave you her ethereal radiance, just to

Make in you, a mirror of herself

But just like the sinful summer breeze in August

The blissful September rain

And the relief brought by the cool October winds

All come to an end, you left me

In the cold November nights because to you, the

Inconvenience faced is a fate

Worse than the most agonizing pain

So I will write you a poem

A poem that will tear through my heart

Burn down my very core

But wouldn’t reach your hands

Because even if the ocean folds over and

The earth open it’s jaws

You still leave me under your bed

Like an old book that never appealed to you enough

I want to stay in that lavender haze

Even though I knew that there, red meant

As much of a colour of danger

As it did the colour of love

Even though I knew that whatever you did

I’d run back to you like a lost child

You see I’m from a small town

So all pretty and smiling I drown

Come back up and miss the ocean

Filling my lungs

Because the dangerous depth and

Deceiving salt are welcome threats

When all you’ve known

Is the same cold, hard and empty ground

I’m not afraid to love a memory

And your laugh at my joke

Over the phone, head against my cold pillow

Is still my favourite melody

By Shruti Mehta