You don't live here anymore...

Like a thousand oceans sweeping through me. Like a sweet rapture streaming through my veins. Like a million thoughts in an illuminated mind. Like a love that’s blinding to the senses.
You came into my city. You’re here.
You seeped into my life; a light breeze that comes slowly, dancing with the golden leaves, swirling them up high, swinging them down low. Then high again. And so the dances go.
Like the Arabs’ Caravans, camels treading, softly cutting through the desert. Like the joy when their shadows come through; clouding the air with yellow dust. Amber, spices and musk. An old sheikh recounting stories around the fire. Tales of demons and brave men.
But like them, you will only stay for a while. You will fill the air and steal away. At dawn, you will fold your tent and pass into the rising sun, just beyond the horizon, right below the stars. And you will ask if I will remember you. And I will say yes.
But as you dance away, as you walk past me, I will know it’s a promise already broken. It’s a memory, already left behind.
Like a flight of happiness. Like a muse. Like the best of days. Like this moment, that will never come again. Like this sunrise, that will be gone forever. Like the red streak of sunlight now softly stroking your face. You are once in time.
You’ve left my city. And you don’t live here anymore.

Pakinam Amer
August 2006