Running Away

I walked by shallow puddles

My feet straying into that muddy world

Noisy mynahs screeched in huddles

Squirrels squealed, their grey skins curled

People fled past each other, afraid

That they wouldn’t be where they ought to be

Their long coats fluttered up and made

Dark waves ripple over the brown, gravelly sea.

Bricks of red walls shifted, to let

Rain conquer their entireties, ringing

Of a time when tall walls set

Aside memories of blood and frenzied singing.

Weakened colours-yellow, blue, green

Clung to their islands of metal, while

The rain fell as a shining silver screen

Gleaming with a dull sun’s smile

Clattering past huddles and weakened colours,

I flew past shivering boughs

As they waltzed, as young lovers

Nervous, with their curtsies and bows.

Umbrellas flipped up, pointing to the sky

That, greying, rumbled low

And gushed, like a shallow, fleeting sigh

And beat out a thunderous roar

I ran too, but I forget now to where.

I fled, and stumbled and fell.

The rain shuddered, and alone

we knelt, my face a telling tell.

My bloodied knee coloured the brown

My hair poured down my shoulder

As I watched you, a stranger, dust my white gown

That lay, reddening. And I grew colder

From the stillness of your warm eyes

That grew scared at the white and red

I whispered to you consoling lies.

And then you smiled and said, “-

Things that I don’t remember now as I

 Step out of the red and white

And watch it pool around my feet. My

finger, naked, has been stripped off its glinting light.

My window hides in plain sight

And only now do I see the reign

Of the pouring knives, darkening the night

With tales of unending rain.

I see in your eyes now the day that had

passed me by in a hurried lash.

Of the weakening colours and walls sad,

Of a muddy world, and a deepening gash.