That Year

By Kunal Sen
Goa, India

There was a night when we lied besides each other
And our lives changed
But before that
In a colony of refugees
Our love was just another thing we had in common
Like a shared clothesline

You had nothing but your blessed good looks
Your boxer's nose and your Mousumi Chatterjee teeth
Even your shadows were beautiful
Your lashes gave you away
We owned a song
We tainted a room, and a town

You had tried to put me together
Piece by piece by piece
And I was flattered and scared at the same time
Not because you were a stranger
But because by then
You were not

You had given names to my fingers
"This one is Benimadhav
The little fellow is called Eravath
Then this here is Tommy-Tit-Tot ..." you used to say
Kissing the tips
As though baptizing all the children we never had.