TUG-OF-WAR

Of nail paints and high heels
And fences that guard my home
Of forsaken diaries and memories
And distant lands that I want to roam

Of new friends and old ones
And chains around my neck
Of lonely beaches full of people
And dreams that haunt me when I’m awake

Of people that are visiting
And the dates I’ve crossed out too
Of ‘Six Weeks to Words of Power’
And a photograph of me and you.

Of five minutes past 10am
And the five that just went by
Of being all that I want to be
And maybe freeing myself of a lie.

Of all those questions I’ve never asked
And the knowledge that I don’t want
Of wrapping myself in a bandage
And fears that I want to surmount

Of all the stormy silence
And the seconds that have gone
Of new shades of lipstick
And of the breaking of the dawn.

Of all that lies within me
And all that lies ahead
Of everything you will say to me
And all the blood that I’ve shed

Of all these lines I’ve written
And all the ones in between
Of this massive tug-of-war within me
Makes me wonder where have I been?

-Sameen