Story (A Poem)

Red canvas, yellow light,
Right from where you'd go  downstairs, is still in my sight,
Wearing same coloured clothes, and fickle as molasses.
Ah! We both were wearing glasses.

Two, three? I don't know how I do know you.
All I know, your mother introduced we two.
Talking all about English movies and songs,
Shy me and grinning as people passed by us in throngs.

Time passed, photos lost, numbers shared,
Talking about ourselves, and we cared,
Understanding each other, I crack jokes on your celebrity crushes,
Like "For Harshna, Ranbir and Brent fighting on your birthday fusses"

For you, a thousand times over,
For the darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality at times of moral crisis,
For we understand our condition of facing treachery, cajolery and transitory life.
I intuite you, "okay", always.

Trust me, you're my Asian Beauty.
And the one, I'd love to laugh and giggle with.
And for I know, how it is to leave the words, "I'll be by your side", flouted.
I won't leave 'em for you!

— Shantanu Shubham

Happy birthday Harshna, 5th November. This is a birthday present to her in 2015.