-Samyuktha Iyer, II B.A. English
december creeps in with
sheepish footsteps. she waits
at the door and lets
the cold air in.
foolish girl. her arms are thin
like candles. she lights
her fingers up
with a snap. her face
is a shadow on the wall.
we watch her with
icicles clinging to our lashes.
she kisses us with
blue lips. every day
she marks a cross
over herself. her shoulders
sag with the burden
of the minutes of a year
resting on them. she wonders
how we allowed
all the days to swim past
and only laid our net
open for her. her hair
is entangled in our fingers.
we count her down
with fear and
disappointment. a dog
barks in the black
morning of her moonrise.
she swallows us whole.
in her belly we find the
promise of time
never stopping. an endless hourglass.
sand tipping one way
then another. but never returning.
in her body
we find every month
we ran through.
then she disappears. we
drink ourselves into blankness.
and awaken into something
we will remember
only the next time
she returns.