Poem: Borrowed Time
Point of view:
4 am, morning. I was thinking about the early morning Video call with a client in Seoul and lost sleep. Then a word jumped in and a verse. Slow, sure but sad. I played along and once I finished, I went to sleep. I feel that the person who is the protagonist of the poem.
Question: What do you think about the person who is walking away and the person who is pleading with the ‘leaver’ to do things in their borrowed time?
After writing the poem, I read it a few times. I felt that initially, the protagonist pleads with his lover to stay, for she has chosen to walk away for reasons we don’t know. But our protagonist is not willing to give up. He wants to cherish the little time left before she vanishes from his life; He starts tentatively, but as the poem goes along he becomes bolder, even asking her to reconsider and give him another choice. From a pathetic plea, the poem brings hope for a possible second chance for the soon-to-be-parting lovers.
Poem: Borrowed Time
Now that you are leaving me
I have a few requests-
Let’s make good of what’s left
For me, it’s borrowed time.Please don’t just say goodbye
I want this moment to stay
With me forever
For this is my borrowed timeThere was a time when
Our hearts beat for each other
Body and soul fused as one
Am lonely now on my borrowed time.Can we just hold hands
So that you can feel my pulse
One last time, my dear
For me, it’s borrowed timeCan we walk some distance
A few yards together
To see how it would have been
For us, it’s borrowed timeCan we just hug once
Your head on my shoulders
And mine on yours
Feel our heartbeats once more
For us, it’s borrowed timeCan I speak only once
And if you can please listen
How much I love you forever
In what’s left of my borrowed timeThere is no time like now
For you to reconsider
Remember our good times
Forgive me this once
Give me this chance once
I promise to make good
Of this little borrowed time.
-Ashok Subramanian © 2022
Image by Christine Engelhardt from Pixabay
