Love, you say, is the only way to remain

You say we are meant to be
in smuggled toffees and stolen letters,
You say you love me.

Sea crashing, foaming around our
sand-crusted feet. Your arm over
my shoulder, a warm blanket

on a humid summer day.
Love, you say, is the only way
to survive. But I want to live.

Love, you say, is the only way
to preserve. " Our story will
be told for centuries to come!"

But this world has too many Juliets
and too little Alices. Love, you say,
is the only way to remain.

But I want to fly through clouds,
reach the pot of gold at the end
of a rainbow, to jump into a hole

behind a smartly dressed rabbit,
to go to Neverland. Your love, I say,
is just a way of holding me back.


Written in response to the poem " What it means to Reappear" by Aditi Rao