It takes three days
to fall in love with a place
three full sunrises and sundowns
before land muzzles and snots on one's shirt
smells of earth after rain
trees that hang too low, the willows
bent double like old women
three times past beauty and a bond, like a love-child
forms and burrows
a rabbit jumping,spring nestling in its fur
even in mid winter, lone stars above the fog
narrate the owl's hoot, morning prayer
it takes less time to love, more time to lose
like war, love walks and leaves shadows behind
Always easy on humans, places
lucid with time to receive love
trod into land, discreetly before it stampedes
fully over your waking moments and becomes
habit, a death told yet unrelieved
Empty spaces are easier to fill
death can always be overtaken with seeds,
with pollen, with weeds
but vacant pockets keep light,
these once full with sugar-cubes,
ants and four feathers from the corners of earth
refuse to give in to the newness-
Valley of shadows,
I now clear shadows with a duster and a little bit of Dettol, for germs.
Sometimes I wish I was a tree,
rooted in one place
Shedding jut three leafs, each for a day,
to forget
a place,
a person
love.
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