Fairy tale beginning

Like a modern day fairy tale her life was unfolding,
Page after page dark, grim and cold.
Caged by her thoughts in a dark castle where no one would ever find her.

Not too long ago, she was free.
Gleeful and unbound.
Yet one morning, deception set a trap that she was led into,
Blindfolded by someone she called her own.

Vulnerable, hurt and pained,
She shrieked.
But her cries echoed in those stone walls.

Tired and dispirited,
She lost her strength to fight.
No fairy Godmother and alas no prince charming.
Her only companion, the silence within her and around.

Like a calm before the storm,
Her silence would turn into her strength.
For she would gather it all and break the shackles.
Unbound and free.

It would be time to awaken to a new dawn,
Where she'd find what she looks for in everything else,
Will be the Light within her.

Talk in everlasting words

Walk into the room and put your inhibitions away with the trench coat you wear. Speak, say a few words at least. Describe your day to me, tell me what it was like. Then add, how many times you wanted to pick up the phone and just hear me say Hello.


Ask me to make you a strong cup of coffee, so you could stay up longer tonight. So you could tell me about the trip you took out of town. The sights you saw, the times you missed me.

Sit next to me, hold me close and hold my hand.
Tell me you missed the warmth of my embrace.
Hold me, like you'd never let go.
Then when you see the anger slowly fade away, tell me you never wanted the distance.

And when you see that tear streak down my cheek, place a kiss on it and make my sorrows yours forever.

Let the world find more ways to keep you away from me.
For when the curtains come down, you'd come back in my arms.
You'd come back home.

The Dreamer

They call me a dreamer.

And I've been dreaming, thinking.

Chalking out a few plans,

of a lifetime of our days, together.

I think of our first dance and how you will hold me.

So delicately and yet possessively.

And how I'll smile coyly when I step on your foot mistakenly.

You'll just punish me... hold me closer and tease me about my skills. 

I dream of our first holiday.

Lazing around, discovering a whole new world. 

And on another tangent discovering each other.

I think of our first meal that you'll lovingly cook for me.

And how I'll secretly curse my culinary skills,

while I relish every bite.

I dream of our first long drive,

And the playlist I'll create of the songs we love.

When the chorus of our song starts to play,

It would transport us to another world, where all else fails to exist.

I think of our first argument.

Slurs, tears and the door slammed.

Then you crawling into the bed, late into the night.

Hugging me and falling asleep in my arms.

Then I wake up and realize that I'm only a dreamer.

Until the day, you decide to make my dreams come true. 

Moved (part II)

Moved (Part I) ...

As she heard the footsteps she quickly put the picture in the box. “Hey I think I better go across and pick up something to munch. You think you can hang in here by yourself for a while?” he asked. She nodded secretly happy that she’d get some time to sneak in and take a look at the other contents of the box.

So as soon as she heard the ignition of his car she scrammed upstairs. She carefully put the box down on the rug on the floor and started going through it. She carefully placed the pictures aside and then found his college sweat shirt, a couple of medals and a few yearbooks. As she picked a yearbook to place it next to the rest of the stuff, an envelope slipped out and fell on the floor with a little clunk.

She was surprised to see her name on the envelope with her present address on it. She opened it and found a hand written letter dated back to about a month after she had left his town and come to live here.  She started to read:

Dear Allie,

I don’t know why I am writing to you, when I can just pick up the phone and call you. I guess it’s easier to be written than to actually speak to you. No fumbles, no dialing your number, no hanging up when I get the machine instead of you.

I don’t know where to begin and what to say. Well, it’s been a very short time since you’ve gone away but this town has missed you, it’s just not the same anymore… I’m not the same anymore.

Why couldn’t I ever talk to you about it? You were always there, right next door, even if just for a short while. Why did I not know how I felt when we spent many evenings sitting on steps of my porch with a couple of beers sharing our lives? Why did I not know, when I called you the night I was down with the flu and you took care of me all night and didn’t leave until I nearly drove you out the next day. Why didn’t I know when I readily drove across town when you were you needed someone to rescue you from a bad date and a flat tire.

What I remember the most is our trip to the vineyard that you took me to, that lazy Sunday morning. We spend all day there. I remember how the ladylike dame I’d seen always was gleaming like a child with her feet in a tub full of grapes crushing it, slipping at times and then the giggle that would turn to laughter. If only you’d see the look in my eyes that day would you know how I’d felt.

Then again how could I ask you to read the signs, when I wasn’t able to decode it myself? That evening as we sat across the table, I wanted to gift you this locket I’d seen you admire at the store a few months ago, and tell you how I felt. But as we sipped the wine you told me you were moving out … the art studio that you were wanting to buyout was finally up for sale and you were going after it with every dime you owned. 

You couldn’t let it go and I couldn’t hold you back.

And here I am today. I thought I was just crumbling to all the pressures of my mundane job, little did I know that I was homesick. You’d wonder how I could be homesick when I was still living in town. I realized that home is truly where the heart is and invariably I had sent it miles away, with you. Yes… it took a fool like me forever to realize that you were my home.

What belongs to you should be yours… so I’m sending you the gift I wanted to give you that night. Happy Birthday, my dear. I will always miss you…

Yours forever.

Jake.

She held the letter close to her heart as she wiped the tears. She then opened the envelope again to find a silver chain with an antic white rose for a locket. She recalled seeing it at the jewelers back then and yearning to own it, but not buying it because she wished to save every penny.

She took the letter and the chain and carefully put it in her bag knowing he would be back soon…

To be continued …

 

Love

Yesterday I fell in love with you.
When we walked together for miles,
And as I told you how beautiful the setting was,
You replied it indeed was 'coz you'd blanked out everything.
All you saw were my smiling eyes.

I fell in love with you...
When you couldn't bear to see me in pain,
So you held me gently like a feather,
Yet strong enough not to let me crumble and break into pieces.

I fell in love with you...
When you lit the room with countless candles that night.
Just to see me glow with a smile.
When  I walked in after a harsh day and a late evening.

Then you went away...
Leaving me yearning for the affection I deserved.

Only to come back into my life.
On a crossroad where so many questions were to be answered.

And I fell in love with you again. 
When you answered all those questions with those beautiful words
"I'll love you forever" ....

Moved ...

He opened his eyes wondering if it was dawn already, sleepily looking at the clock. He was sitting on his couch, with his arms outstretched and her head cradled in his lap. She was still asleep. He looked down at her and smiled, noticing a lock of her brown hair bothering her. So he carefully moved it, hoping it wouldn't wake her. As he moved it, she smiled in her sleep... he wondered what she was dreaming about.

He recalled  the events of the previous day...

He had called her two nights ago and told her that he was moving into her town. Work had brought him here, having to leave back his home and friends. His only consolation that she lived here. The minute she answered the phone, he felt better. Her excitement was infectious making him less homesick. She was gleaming knowing now that he was here to stay. He told her that the packers would bring in his stuff by the morning and he would move in to his new home. Having no other friends in town he asked her if he could help her unpack. She agreed on one condition... that she would plan the rest of the evening and he would have to adhere to it. He couldn't ask for more...

He offered to pick her up in the morning, but she told him that she would meet him outside his new house so he text her the address. By nine am of the following morning he drove towards the country side where he had found himself a cozy two-storey bungalow. As he went past the old Oak trees and the small warm homes, he kept thinking of her, her warm smile, her cheerful eyes; and then of their last date before she moved to this part of the world. How he missed having her around. Only after she was gone had he realized how he had really felt for her, but didn't tell her about it, knowing things would just be more difficult that way.

As her pulled into the driveway, she was standing there with a flask of coffee and a brown bag with breakfast.

He unlocked the door and they stepped in. The furniture covered in white sheets and the sunlight that crept in thru' the door making the entire place light up. She went back to her car and brought a rug so they could sit on the cold floor. And half hour later the packers arrived with all his stuff.

She told him that she will set up the den and kitchen while he could settle the rest of his personal stuff in the bedroom. As it struck one, she thought of getting a Chinese/Indian takeout for lunch. She went to his room but he wasn't there. She saw a box marked personal. Although she didn't want to pry she was far too curious  to know what was in there. She promised she'd just take a peek into the box and then go back. But what she discovered was quite surprising.

She found black and white pictures of them. Pictures of a get-together that he had invited her to, at his home. Pictures she had never seen, including one candid image that was placed in a wooden frame.

That's when she heard footsteps and quickly put it back ...


----- To be Continued

Brown Eyed Girl

Those eyes...
Brown, deep and beautiful.

Those eyes...
That smiled at me from across the room, the first time they met mine.

Those eyes...
That danced like burning flames of desire when we danced with the sand at our feet on that starry night.

That cried when we had a lovers spat and walked away for a while.
And that twinkled with glee when sunny days returned in our lives.

Those eyes...
That naughtily winked when we pretended to be strangers among friends and family, telling a white lie.

Those beautiful brown eyes...
That now encapsulate my crimson dream.
And makes it her vision.

They'll always belong to my best friend and lover... those deep beautiful brown eyes.

Puzzled

When he didn't know who else to speak to about this, he went up to his best friend.

He knocked on her door. She opened the door and he walked right in. They hadn't spoken for a long time and now that he had come up to her, she knew he was in an awry situation.

So they got straight to the point. "What's going on? I know you are here 'coz of her. But now that she's gone, its too late for you to be taking my advice or looking for answers."

He didn't think she'd say anything else, than what he already knew. But he just wanted to put his word forward. So he sat her down and talked. He told her how much he was in love. How she had turned his world around and made him a responsible man. But then she was a world renowned artist and he was just a small time entrepreneur. "She is rich and famous.  I have a successful business but what do I have to offer that she can't have?"

"It's not about stuff, you idiot. It never is", she growled. "Why can't guys get that? Stuff is a substitute of what we accept when we don't get what we want."

"What do women really want?"

"We want to matter." she said. "We want to be the most important part of your world. We want to know you'd be lost without us, that you ache when we are gone and count the hours for us to return. We'll give you our lives forever, if you just make us believe that."

- Note this is not entirely an original write-up but parts of it are an extract from a novel I read. Due credit to the writer for the same."

Did You Miss Me?

I sat by the phone waiting for you to call.
But not once did you decide to dial me.
I patiently watched the day go by.
And gave up when night began to fall.

You were out with friends as they celebrated a special day.
The festivities began and the music started to play.
They were playing a love song,
And everyone picked their partner, to the ballad they'd sway.

And that's when you felt my absence.
Sitting before the bonfire, smiling at yourself.
Wondering what I had been doing all day.

You wished I'd be there too, so you could hold me close.
And dance to the melody, whispering the lyrics softly in my ears.

But I wasn't there.
I was home that late evening, lying in my bed.
With my head on my pillow.
Closing my eyes, imagining you were right here.
And then wondering if you were sitting by the warm bonfire, by the sea.
Saying... I miss her dearly. 


- Inspired by Dan Seals Addicted (painting by Fabiano Parez)