Palinode

Everyone reminds me of someone else,
and hence I surmise this space belongs
to time of some other time, else my memory
writes my existence with a pencil to reuse the expanse.

Everyone, even you; you remind me of
an earlier you, happier, I retract, you smile
now to equal the laughter of yesterdays;
you are a palinode. You laugh whenever
I stare at one of those mirrors we staged
to narrate the light throughout this space.
I stare and see. See some more. Time
belongs to some time else.

Kushal Poddar is the author of Postmarked Quarantine has eight books to his credit. He is a journalist, father, and the editor of Words Surfacing. His works have been translated into twelve languages, published across the globe. Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kushalpoe. Read other articles by Kushal.