Modern Love Poems: I Don’t Think the Night Ever Ends by Shrutee Choudhary

[Note from Frolic: We are so excited to announce our new series of modern love poetry from the top poets on Instagram. Next up is part 3 of a collection from @shruteechoudhary. Read part one here.]

1. meet me near the clock tower

in our dreams, in the lost city

that is dark and uninhabitable

I can forget to read time

you can forget to

forget me.

2. I don’t think the night ever ends. and in the a.m.

I find my way back to your doorstep, I pace back and forth on my tiptoes, I don’t want to

wake you. I don’t want to break

my dream which is even more fragile than a dandelion swaying to the wind.

and in the a.m.

I think about quantum entanglement, I don’t think they can mention you without

referring to me. like an antonym.

even though we’ve got cigarette trailed roads that go for miles, between us. even though you’d rather burn your tongue than let my name

rest in your mouth.

even though we dreamed of ending up

in Sicily and now it’s off your bucket list.

and our songs are no more

our songs.

all the days arrive with resentment,

laden with broken artefacts that

made sense to only two people, centuries ago.

nights are more forgiving.

they have always been, you take your sorry heart and arrive at my doorstep someday

in the a.m.

and I might just take you back.

3. my heart

has been locked away

I haven’t looked its way

in a long time.

It’s got that old, closet smell

but even in its wrinkly disposition

it still knows how to

love.

so last night

when I rummaged through

old feelings that you could

take to bed

I found my heart instead —

to offer you.

4. we meet

like needle and thread

that come together

to mend a tear on a cloth

like the absentminded reach

for the house keys as i leave

in the morning

like the rim of a glass

and my lips

do, when I’m parched

when we don’t meet

it is like

forgetting to wear

my favourite watch

the emptiness

weighs in on my wrist

like an umbrella breaking

on the rainiest day

like my poem

feeling incomplete.

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