DAYS OF TWO

Dumbarton Oaks Gardens, DC

Loss. Looking for words to describe the indescribable.

Years ago when COVID was just beginning its death march across the globe I was in a writing workshop at George Mason University. Our task was to use a line from a well known poet in one of our poems. I chose Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, an Indian poet who wrote in Urdu and Persian. I tried to imagine my feelings if I lost a loved one…these are the words that came out.

______________

Days of Two

I would have liked a solitary death,
Alone, without having to make excuses.
Life was not like that. I was one of two
For years and tears but then was one.
Each day of two, a song, a dance and joy
Morphing smoothly, slowly into quiet peace. Each day.
A Two Day’s song wrapped strong us two
And made the day fire the sparks of us. Each day.
The dance, the joy, the ever present two
Was what…was what…was what there was. Each day.
Without thinking, without trying, without
Others or things or rules, just two. Each day.
On days of two the highest mountains only had one step,
With days of two there were no oceans deep.
And now there’s only one and others come
But, I would have liked a solitary death.

The first and last lines are from the poem “No, I wasn’t meant to love and be loved,”
by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, translated by Vijay Seshadri