Born

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No shimmer showered down the sky
No sun or star graced with an extra shine
No premonitions, no dreams
No signs or background chimes
No lyrics can voice those frozen seconds in time
No quote would do justice fitting just fine
No one saw those stolen glances, that glint in my eye
And not how I was finally waking up from a deep slumber, melting seeing you smile.

In random memories that sleep clinging my heart each night
There is no white horse, no shining armor or knight
In those haphazard words in the last pages of my notebook that keep me company at nightfall in a torch's light
It's no distant scarlet letter, no XOXO's nor declarations of undying love flaming bright.

It's you walking right in through that door
It's me looking up from my mess of a life to see who it is
It's you searching a familiar face
It's me smiling a little for I wanted to be chosen for once, this time.

I don't remember the colors that were worn
What I do remember is how your eyes danced, how your fingers played on the table, how your hair sparkled gold in the sun, how that December just thawed in your warmth
I don't know what words were our first, what moment we clicked, what note life's playlist adorned
What I do know is how in my life that beautiful morning you walked in, how in my heart you were born.

© 2013 Neha Choudhry

Stars

One thing he never asked or answered me is Why;
Why are we what we are today
or Why were we what we were back then.
How did we get here?
I can't even begin to begin.
He took my hand and ran my fingers on the freckles on his nose, around his cheeks and asked, "What about these? Aren't these imperfections?"
With the palm of my hand I closed his eyes and asked him, "What do you see?"
"It's dark with a hint of bright light" was what I got.
"Nothing is perfectly immiscible..." I began. He cut me out with a "Don't go chemistry on me, babe." But I still continued "...you will always find the world in shades, shades of colors you may not even know names of."
"How does that answer me?"
"Had the night sky been a plain boring black it would have robbed us star-gazers of the magic. Your freckles make you beautiful. It's like god-defined patterns whereon I have to plant kisses all night long. Don't be surprised if some night I go on making crazy constellations on you with a glitter pen like those joining-the-dots we used to do in play school and you wake up all sparkling. Our imperfections match us. I love how after a lot of coke we play a burp-oops-sorry and then do it intentionally for the craziness of it, how in midst of crossing a busy street you take my hand and I just go on trailing with you demanding every possible thing that we stroll pass by; be it an ice cream, shoes, jacket or a baby pink colored rosary. You know what I really like about us? It's how even after teenage passed me by a couple of years ago I still get to be your baby. How I get to be hugged mid-street just to say 'Hi' or play 'what color is it?' with gems or drink all your coffee, make a kitty face and get away with it or...

I can go on and on but the truth is no matter how close I get to expressing it, I won't ever be able to tell you how we got here. I'm just glad we got here."

...fifteen minutes later...

"Is this top too body-hugging?"
No response.
He is no where in sight. Obviously would be with that video game again. Urgh.

I feel his hands, slowly finger-walking closing in on my waist, enveloping me from behind.

"Not any close to the kind I am."

I turn around.

And... *stars*.

© 2013 Neha Choudhry

Three Steps Above the Sky

It's refreshing to not wanna go back to the years that just went by
It's a peaceful submission to let things be, to not re-live, re-cry
It's beautiful when you silently take my hand in the crowd or even after a petty fight
It's kind of cute to see you fumbling for the perfect words when at all I dress up a little bit and all you let out is an amazed sigh
It's an unworded thanks to sometimes find you reading my poem or two with a smile on your lips and glint in your eyes
It's a constant somersaulting universe in here, in my world that lies three steps above the sky.

© 2013 Neha Choudhry

I saw her by the sea

Her locks were a perfect veil
Her eyes never left the shore
Her hands were curled around her dress
Wearing the rainbow as anklet on water she walked.

Her skin was translucent gold
Her bracelet tinkled from somewhere within the white folds
Her breath was the ocean's sigh
And when she looked up, I swear right then and there I could die.

Her smile, that I imagined to be the universe, lacked the sparkles
Her pristine self gathered composure as if something was not so right
Her eyes in mine gave me the chills of a tornado's touchdown
And when I finally blinked, the sad mermaid vanished leaving behind the tinkling of her bracelet and her song.

© 2013 Neha Choudhry

He likes it hot, I like it strong

I stayed under covers for a while
In the aroma of a psychological petrichor
The coffee-maker still held in his share
Unmade sheets spilled enough beans on the wait I lived through a night before.

I rose to two roses laying by my side
A tiny place between waking up and dreaming I traversed for sometime
Humming a tune while he played piano on my neck, I was too much in a trance
Jumbled lyrics from here and there fit perfect in his song.

I turned to face him, he smiled
I smiled and in unison we blinked twice
Free falling is one, through a whirlpool is another
To look in his eyes and watch your chocolate melting in his ocean is love.

And we stayed under covers all day
In the aroma of love, of dreams, of us
The empty coffee-maker graced the corner counting moments pass by
How the coffee slowly vanished while his lips devoured it off mine.

P.S. All for the mutual love of COFFEE ;-)

© 2013 Neha Choudhry