By Seni Seneviratne
Let me assume a pose that is suitably uncomfortable. There’s no obvious way to shift me from a life of necessary solitude, though I sometimes miss the joy of slipping from the warm side of a sleeping lover to watch the moon through cold curtains. Life is a stolen word from someone else’s lines, but can it harm if it’s surrounded by my own?
Into the nearest cafe, miss out main course, bite into blueberry sponge. And who would say yes to that last bit of overheard chat? Not me. I’m wondering which way to go after all this time of take what life brings, which is only another cliché on the road to who knows what.
This is a city where cold applies mainly to the weather, where people butter their bread and remember which side. You never know how many cups of coffee it will take to sit here stealing words that have already happened. Should I take off the mask? These inventions of mood are not always useful.
And this may not be the right place to say, but the woman on the next table keeps casting glances. There’s so much shame in her eyes but all I can do is smile and watch her plumage bristle under the beige of her fleece. What’s to lose? Take off the jacket and fly!
© Seni Seneviratne
