Promise

by Preeti Belani, 4th BPTh

Once I put on a ring. A golden ring. A lovely ring. The ring. It was one of the two things I loved the most. The other was appropriately sized to take into arms.

     Was ambulant to go to the park with

     Was hungry to share a meal with

     Was articulate to speak memories with

     Was lazy to sneak into mischief with

One willing morning, playing peek-a-boo with the sun, she tells me, “Imagine perishing into the radiance, just like that” 

She was asking for water. That’s just how she was: articulate. 

Skipping stones, she crossed the rivulet and called me by her favourite name. She needed me as a witness. Kneading the moist soil, I am asked to bury one thing with a sacred promise. Gold lay buried there for as long her chuckles reverberated around my eardrums, around my consciousness till it found its twin.

Her heart.