Between Lovers

Close to him she wanted to be,

But he won't accept a lover.

So a friend, that's what she became;

With love she confessed never.

Why won't you love? She asked often.

What's so wrong with you?

Yet he was cold and distanced;

For reasons she never knew.

One day, drunk beyond senses

In her ear, he did say-

Nothing wrong with the ladies,

Dear, secretly I am gay.

She left that day, without a trace;

No draft or no letter kept.

He took the guilt for her absence,

He blamed his stupid secret.

Long after, in a corporate dinner;

He spotted a handsome man,

Clean shaved, and so aptly dressed;

Suddenly, an infatuation began.

He shuddered when he saw the face,

It was no man unknown;

It was his friend from the college days,

The girl who left alone.

What did you do, you idiot, he spoke;

Tears rolled down his cheek.

See I lost, everything you hate, he said;

Sorry, I couldn't grow a dick.

In he, she, and them, I lost my story;

But a thing did it teach-

There is no gender, no human being

That love can not breach.

© Nirmalya Panigrahi