For S.K (The Original Copy) Poem by Vihanga Perera

- written for TM, many months after she left -


Once you walked with me and that evening was
Quiet; the halls were dark.
You smiled and said good bye and turned away
And your bag turned with you, with a start.
I watch you as you walk away.
Quite sorry, that I almost let out my heart.

That when you finally left, for some strange reason,
It felt as if both lungs burned; as if my body was warped.
I expect you every corner - every turn. For, in that
Rightful departure I was bent to last; I was wronged.
I remember one night when you were badly hurt.

I never thought you as pretty as that
Until that meeting on that day
When, on that library floor, you said
You're looking for a writer whose name I now forget.
Before we became friends. Before anything else.

These are just words - - unproofed, orderless
Pieces of memory collected into mediocre line.
Like an occasional pin, memory's sharp edge picks.
I should have held you back with force, that time
And not watched you go into the pathless night.