Fate

Ten years later –

I stare into your eyes

and see that you have been places

neither of us imagined –

Places you’d never want to revisit

Places I'd never want to go.


Such is fate, they say.

Ten years ago, we both married men we loved –

To start the lived-happily-ever-after chapter

You became a mother, and so did I,

You several times over, and I only once.

Ten years later, you are still married, and so am I –

to men we love – yes?
You pull your sleeves down to hide your bruises,

I roll them up in this unbearable heat.


Such is fate, they say.

You endure life for the sake of your children -

Its a worthy sacrifice, you say

and they agree -

the ones with the uncaring eyes and hearts.



Such is fate, they say.


Time leaves its mark in strange ways.

Ten years ago, you were a young and lively eighteen,

I, a sedate and mature twenty-five.

Now, I’m a young thirty-five.

But you –

You have aged beyond recognition –

Beyond death itself.


What happened to you, my friend?

Such is fate, they say.