She Took The Map

With her beside me

I drew a roadmap to a future

I dreamed we would travel together.

Every hope had a destination.

Every dream knew its way.

For the first time,

my heart wasn't afraid of tomorrow.

Then she walked away.

She took the map with her,

leaving me to wander through life,

standing at every crossroads,

not knowing which road was still mine.

Sometimes,

I feel like whispering,

"Forgive my absence."

But then I remember…

she has learned

to live happily without me.

Perhaps my presence

would only disturb

the peace she has found.

She gave me the deepest heartbreak

I have ever known.

I grew tired of fighting with her,

and even more tired

of fighting for her.

Love should never need constant proof.

So I stopped trying to convince her

of what my heart had been saying all along.

Some endings arrive without explanations.

Some people are only meant

to change our lives,

do not stay in them.

Maybe she entered mine

to give me love

to teach me pain,

and to take away the version of me

who believed that love alone

could make someone stay.

Now, I fold away the unfinished map.

Not because I have forgotten her,

but because every journey

must continue…

even when the one you wished

to walk beside has chosen another road.

By

Sanji-Paul Arvind