I Saw You (a poem)
Day 1: Love
But I saw you.
You thought I did not but I did.
That one you call, friend,
That one whose grace you celebrate,
That one you honour on WhatsApp,
That one you almost kneel to greet,
That one you write epistles for on her birthday,
That one whose hands you shake with both of yours,
That one you call friend.
I saw you laugh at her.
I listened at your door,
You were talking on the phone.
You did not hear me but I heard you.
I heard you tell that person that she-whom-you-say-you-love was bound to fall,
I heard you say, “pride went before her fall.”
I heard you say, “she thought she was wise.”
I heard you say, “God has exposed her.”
I looked through the peephole.
On your face, I saw disgust.
Yes, she-whom-you-say-you-love,
I saw you kill in secret.
But in the open when we met,
I saw not the disgust,
I heard you call for prayers for she-whom-you-say-you-love.
Now I wonder,
At all the times you called me beloved too.