Adieu

Silently you pluck,

the slender petals off the carnation, 

one by one in a careless concentration. 

The flower in agony looks at you sadly.

As if in atonement for the sin,

tears stream down your cheeks.

It wets the flower in a strange comfort.

I watch your well manicured hands.

How meticulously you have polished the nails!

There is not even a tiny exposure.

You have thus sealed off our relationship too,

leaving no scope for a mending.

You do things with such care.

How shall I judge it?

Your merit or demerit?

I don't know.