Unuttered!

As I walked by the lane, they spoke to each other.
They never spoke as such.
Neither chirped.
They were just there, quietly holding on to the last bit of themselves as the wind softly eroded them.

When he lost his eyes, she came a little closer, at least I thought she did!
Her beak was about to touch his cheeks to whisper to him what he wasn’t missing around.
Then she realised they never could see but only felt.

It was then the time for her to fade. She hadn’t seen her colour but she loved her own surface, painted and smooth.
Could have been the colour of the sky.
Could have been the trees. Who knows but she could feel it peeling off.

He coaxed the moss that covered him, to grow on her instead. He was fine being bare as long as she had the coat of green.

I had seen them together while coming back from the afternoon walks, close to each other quietly counting the blessings before the rain made them softer and brittle.

It wasn’t about growing smaller or losing forms. They were comfortable with the change.
They changed shapes together.
Grew different from each other on every other day.
But they both believed to be part of the same, at least that’s what I felt every time I went out to put garbage on the driveway.

I don’t know if I have ever called your name!
Do you know mine, at all?
All I know that you never left, so there was no need to call.

(Artwork: Piu Mahapatra)

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