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  • The Rumor, The Slap, The Photo | A One-Sided Love Story

    The Rumor, The Slap, The Photo | A One-Sided Love Story

    if i could do something again

    something i regret

    something i shouldn’t have done

    i wouldn’t change everything

    just that beginning

    when a classmate

    made a rumor

    said you were my love interest

    i would say—

    i didn’t think about it at first

    it was just noise

    but then

    you reacted with anger

    said it wasn’t true

    and somehow

    that moment

    made me look at you differently

    i tried to ignore it

    tried to shut my friends up

    but like modern day tabloids

    like social media

    like a wired network that never sleeps

    my paparazzi friends

    made it viral

    across the whole school

    and then

    for some reason

    i validated a rumor

    i expressed myself

    openly sometimes

    secretly sometimes

    emails in the evening

    hotmail msn

    inside a cyber cafe

    and sometimes in person

    when you crossed that bridge

    near the school

    when no one was around

    your slap

    wasn’t personal

    i know

    you just wanted me to understand

    you were not into me

    tearing my valentine cards

    wasn’t personal either

    maybe you were saying

    love is not written

    in a few fancy words

    my one-sided story

    became popular

    a story i never meant to publish

    later i tried to clarify

    said i wasn’t into you

    but deep down

    i was

    for 10 years and more

    your memory stayed

    not always pain

    sometimes goosebumps

    sometimes happiness

    bittersweet

    like something unfinished

    i regret one thing the most

    telling my friends

    about that last photo

    i said

    it would be my first and last

    photoshoot with you

    you came prepared

    even brought your own cameraman

    ready

    for a simple picture

    but my friends again

    like paparazzi

    they swarmed

    you didn’t like it

    still

    somehow

    a picture was taken

    poor light

    bad angle

    not perfect

    but maybe

    better than nothing

    i don’t know

    if you ever got that photo

    but

    i’m sorry

    i couldn’t be part

    of your perfect camera click

  • Dry Heart, Wildfire Love

    Dry Heart, Wildfire Love

    It was never my fault

    that I loved them all.

    I only saw

    their sweetness,

    their quiet glow,

    and mistook it for warmth

    meant for me.

    So I leaned closer,

    again and again,

    begging for embers

    when my own heart

    was a dry forest,

    where even a spark

    could turn

    into a wildfire.

  • Falling Star, Falling Heart

    Falling Star, Falling Heart

    Hey… look,” she whispered,

    “A star is falling.”

    Her finger traced the sky,

    as if she could catch light itself.

    I didn’t look up.

    I held her hand instead,

    let the silence sit between us,

    soft… unhurried.

    Then I found her eyes

    and stayed there for a moment longer than needed.

    “Dear,” I said, quietly,

    “You don’t have to chase falling stars…

    You are the star for me.

    And I—

    I fall for you every time.”

  • The Ride Through Mustard Fields

    The Ride Through Mustard Fields

    wearing helmet as a shield

    pedalling along the black topped road

    watching hills and farmland sliding past

    we reached the mustard field

    the road rose and fell like breathing ground

    gears changed on the climb

    pedalling slower now

    sweat pulling at the skin

    breath turning loud inside the chest

    until we reached the top

    gear shifted

    and the cycle began to move without us

    no pedalling

    just surrender to the downhill

    suddenly it felt like a glider breaking loose from weight

    floating through open air

    carefree

    like a bird that forgot the idea of cages

    in a sky without edges

    we greeted people along the way

    waving at passers by

    hi and hello

    small moments passing like sparks

    a train crossed the distant tracks

    cutting through the horizon

    and i raised my hand to it

    like it was an old friend disappearing again

    hoping to meet it again

  • Swinging Beyond Gravity

    Swinging Beyond Gravity

    swinging like a swing

    if i sway a little more

    maybe i can touch the sky

    and if i do

    i wont come back the same

    i will sit on a cloud

    like it knows me

    like it has been waiting

    i will greet birds

    not as strangers

    but as something i forgot i was

    today

    gravity can rest

    it has been holding too much anyway

    let it sleep

    i will take every moment

    before it slips

    before it asks me to be something

    if clouds decide to rain

    let me fall with it

    not as fear

    but as a drop

    ocean or lake

    it does not matter

    i just dont want to land

    as myself again

    i think

    the cloud wont feel my weight

    because maybe

    i was never that heavy

    maybe

    it was just my thoughts

    pretending to be stones

    like an alarm

    my worries

    i will not set them today

    no jobs

    no commitments

    no clock chasing my breath

    i am here

    just here

    with nothing to do

    and for once

    nothing is waiting for me

    not even time

    oh swing

    if you are still moving

    slow down

    because i know

    this is where it ends

    i have to step down

    back into a world

    that speaks truth

    but tastes like lies

    a world that wears meaning

    but feels empty inside

    and maybe

    it was never outside

    maybe

    it was always in here

    inside this mind

    where i can still

    erase everything

    come back

    sit again

    and swing

    and soften

  • The Last Flight of Hope

    The Last Flight of Hope

    He stood on the cliff edge

    wind braiding his silence into the sky

    below

    a restless ocean of faces

    eyes like broken mirrors

    each reflecting a different hunger

    world is such a beautiful place my dear friends

    his voice drifted

    not spoken

    but released

    why carry the dust of hate

    why stitch betrayal into your own skin

    why carve storms inside a body made for sunrise

    the crowd shifted

    a trembling forest of doubt

    roots tangled in centuries of fear

    and then

    he let go

    not falling

    but unfastening from gravity

    for a moment

    time forgot its duty

    he became a question

    hovering between earth and forever

    and the crowd

    they did not cheer

    they did not scream

    they watched

    as hope

    that fragile reckless bird

    learned again

    how to fly

  • The Aroma That Calls You Back

    The Aroma That Calls You Back

    What is your favorite restaurant?

    Aroma in my nose

    right from the stairs

    to the top floor

    even if you are passing through

    the aroma pulls you back

    like a rubber

    tied in your heart

    wouldn’t let you go

    even if you reach far

    you get curious

    you couldn’t resist

    that feeling—warm, inviting

    like

    half of the hunger

    already filled

    by the intensity of smell

    morning, day or night

    food fills your appetite

    craving increases

    and when you absorb

    the love-filled nutrients

    the heart becomes light

    the belly becomes tight

    my home is my restaurant

    where my mother’s handmade food

    brings me great delight

  • Conversations With Smoke

    Conversations With Smoke

    i asked the smoke

    fresh from its short trip to my lungs

    how long will you stay in the air

    it did not answer

    it only drifted

    but the smell stayed

    longer than it should

    like a memory that refuses to leave

    i knew it would not speak

    still i thought

    maybe it would sit with me

    for a while

    keep me company

    tell me stories

    about the lungs it just visited

    about the narrow passages of my throat

    so i smoked again

    just to see if it reacts

    and it did

    not with answers

    but with the wind

    it swayed away from me

    further and further

    until it reached a place

    my eyes could not follow

    and suddenly

    it felt like someone

    someone who quietly entered my heart

    stayed without noise

    and left the same way

    no goodbye

    just disappearance

    into thin air

    but something stayed

    a trace

    a weight

    a presence i cannot remember clearly

    so i ask myself

    how do they erase everything

    and still leave something behind

    how do they leave

    without saying a word

    so

    i smoked again

    and again

    and again

  • When Eyes Decoded Hearts

    When Eyes Decoded Hearts

    two eyes
    when met and matched

    unlocked
    the code
    of encrypted hearts

    thirst lived in them
    a quiet wandering

    until one day
    they did not search

    they arrived

    two hearts
    cracked open
    edges remembering pain

    leaned closer

    not to fix
    but to feel

    and something within
    began to mend

    traffic snarled

    horns screamed

    words burned
    in restless mouths

    they did not move

    for them
    the world paused
    somewhere far behind

    the sun pressed down
    without mercy

    yet two souls
    turned to frost

    and the only thing melting

    was not the day

    but them

    slowly
    softly

    becoming each other

    a touch
    on the shoulder

    gravity returning

    and suddenly

    all the chaos
    they once carried

    felt smaller

    than this moment

    they chose

    from a distance

    through a borrowed gaze

    i watched

    two hands
    finding each other

    in a pocket of shade

    perhaps
    i should have left

    but curiosity
    has its own will

    and love

    moves beyond logic

    slips past manners

    and asks for no proof

  • Where the Tape Resists

    Where the Tape Resists

    It’s been long

    since silence stopped ringing

    in my ears

    no buzz

    no static

    just a clean emptiness

    If only

    the voice inside my head

    could stand in a witness box

    and answer me

    honestly

    But every time I rewind

    the past—

    the tape resists

    and right where it hurts the most

    the reel

    pauses