27th April, TSL's Napowrimo, Prompt by Nidhi Popli, poem by me

Prompt Name : Maybe they had their reasons-

Think of something someone did to you that you didn't understand at that time. Write a poem justifying their reasons, as you understand them now, with the benefit of hindsight

Nidhi Popli

We used to sit on those steps

moss-covered

or on the stone

ledge

It might have been granite

Memory is sepia

even in the mind

We would look at each other

Talk

Smile

Say nothing

Listen

Why did you put a circle around yourself

so that I never leaned over and touched you

or kissed you

with that story that was probably

an invitation, and not a fobbing off?

Or was it just the opposite?

Or just a story showing you trusted me enough

to tell me your secrets?

Whatever, the time went by

&

I am left with a petty regret

That I was too nice a guy

not wild enough to give a kiss a try

And you; too ordinary, staid,

and middle-class a town girl

only hung out in the sun to dry.