4/25/13

Your Smile
By Adreyo Sen


One night, when you smiled at me, the smile
stayed in the air when you left. It shone. The
brightness in your eyes had brought it to life.
Too young to know it could travel the world
unsupported, it did not protest when I pressed
flat its jaunty curviness and put it in my
pocket.

I took your smile to a jeweller with lightless
eyes. Not appreciating its magic, he beat it
into a ring. Too strong to break, it shone serenely.
It glowed with a complacency
that was somehow not unappealing.

Transparent, like a fine strand of hair in my hand,
a river of milk, it already had an air of immortality
unjustified and thus dangerous. Yet, captivating.
Now, it was invincible.

And so, now that you are travelling into a world
of shadows, your eyes in the gloom, even as
they look at me, I give you back your smile.
I will wrap it around your finger. May it
lead you back into the light, back to where
you were, back into the centre of my life.

And maybe, one day, you’ll smile at me again.


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Adreyo Sen, based in Kolkata, hopes to become a full-time writer. She did her undergraduate work in English and her postgraduate work in English and Sociology. Adreyo has been published in Danse Macabre and Kritya.