YEH ISHQ HAI (OH, THIS LOVE!)
Ha, hai koi to baccha, jo jeena ka mazzah yun aane laga
- Yes, can anyone save me, from the excitement of life that has
come upon me?
​
5am & I want to get her coffee & she says sleepily
toothbrush & three days later we are side by side in the mirror &
shaking, a headphone each & mine falls out my mouth
& she tells me she doesn’t know how to process the news &
when she leaves & I stay behind & it happens to us this time
& I take my colleagues to mosque to pray funeral prayer &
my 5am becomes powder & more powder &
I turn up to work shaking & see the table where she worked
& spoke to her rabbi about the book I gifted & I know
that wanting it to work wasn’t enough & traditions weigh more
than hypocrisy & did I ever pray in front of her I can’t quite
remember & I miss the smell of shabbat candles &
her long skirts & dream of it – a secret marriage & a new
5am routine & pesach & isha & a house full of complementary
interventions.