“Why did it take you so long?” –

I asked the faithful moonshadow.

The sun has disappeared,

sapping the last of my remaining strength of the day.

Night after night

he comes to my window

chasing after my thoughts,

pulling strings on my shadow.

Every morning I awaken with new eyes,

and a new beating heart,

equipped with blood washed by Mother Ganga herself in Saravsti River.

Yet every night

the new bravado, the new eyes, the new heart

are flung far out into the skies

hidden behind the surfs

and rolls of clouds

Night

after night,

the moonshadow asks me –

“How far can you go?

how far before you get blisters,

before your skin comes off?

How far can you go before your heart bursts

flinging dead white blood cells, bacteria, tissue debris and serum?

How far can you go before you give in –

to the love you are agonizingly running away from?”