Atlas Of A Marriage

How do you reach here- this round, comprehensive figure of 10?

In a breath, in a heartbeat.
Sometimes longer.
Over distance. Long, long, long.
Sometimes lasting.

So, you count it- this distance, in miles.
Sometimes in days and years.
Sometimes the distance is different states
Sometimes different continents.

How do you look back at a decade?

You start with then- when the wedding pandit was an absolute joker.
You crack up while the ceremony is going on.
You wink across rooms.
There’s some shared mirth.
Strength & pain.
Joys & defeats.
There are the decent, bad, ugly and horrific bits somewhere.
But you remember the good, the wonderful, the spectacular.

Ten.
Of broken calls and empty beds.
Of silences.
And surprises. New years and Birthdays.
Of promises made and kept.
And those that were broken.

Of time offered, devoted, taken
Of time treasured.
Of time bent and kept.
Of time stolen.

Of having found our North Star.
Borrowing a bit of glitter from the skies.
Turning it into silver on our shoulders.
Of watching it get brighter.

Of loving. And finding it back.
Of choosing each other.
Over and over and over.

And over.

Of starting as.
And staying friends through it all.
Of journeying through time
With your person.
Through a life
Created together.


The poem finished ‘Runner-up’ at the Belagavi Poetry Festival.