Never A Day Apart

A woman of home and duty

Old, fragile she lay and her children

Listened to the monitor beep

In mourning for what the doctor spoke

“Less than 24 hours.”

Her daughter put a book beside her

“By your favourite author, right mum?”

She melted into an ugly cacophony of

Cries and beeps.

The daughter wondered how she’d

Hit her head, but mind clouded by grief

Turned to the book, and so she read:

Never A Day Apart

A story of a responsible girl

And a boy with vices,

The shy beauty everyone fell for

And the friend to all,

As he was to her

They started to talk and open up

The boy found a person to share

His interests with, and she was happy

To share and be his community for

Love’s euphoric but she was intoxicating

“Never a day apart” was their vow

They took under the spell of love

Ending their nights, they wished

Each other to sleep only to

then appear in their dreams, for

Love’s a star they prayed for

Each other to be forever

They’d walk and talk and travel

To places in each other’s hearts

Like hands, clasped and clamped

So tight they didn’t want to let go

As they walked to a dead end.

They ate together, twirled forks together

In the wake of a foreseen fork, yet

They stayed closer still, for

Love’s an aphrodisiac, which they devoured

In throes of love they stayed

Never a day apart, they wished

“Goodnight, sweetheart,

I love you, darling, bye”

And kissed their screens

Cheesey for everyone but

Not for those afflicted, for

Love’s an addicting drug,

But they didn’t know

More like addicts, they wanted

More thrill and risk they sought

More love and adore they’d crave

They got what they craved

For years, until they didn’t

For there’s only so much love

A human can give you

Then cracks showed up

A mistake he made

A mistake she made

Cracks widened, for

Love’s a monument falling apart

They desperately held on to

Ropes to a dying monument scrape

The hands of those who hold them.

She cried, he cried and they crumbled

They didn’t say those cheesey lines, yet

“Never a day apart” stood strong & unbroken

for she was on his mind

And he in her heart.

The daughter sobbed for her

Favourite story until it was time to leave

With the book beside her again,

A note flew out from its back

Written by a hand unrecognisable,

The writer of the note talked

About his death and wished the

Receiver well, apologising that

He may now break his promise

In the car, the note bugged

The daughter’s mind,

But she got the book delivered yesterday,

Then where did the note…

and then it struck

Right after she got the book

She ran away, followed by a call

Hours later by a stranger, saying

She’d been Injured at a train station

She was going

To him, to keep

A promise

Rushing back, the daughter ran

Through the hallways while

She, with her wrinkled hands,

Pulled off the oxygen mask

Gasped for breaths she didn’t want,

She took the book and kissed his name

Each kiss left a word in a whispered embrace

“Goodnight, sweetheart,

I love you, darling, bye”

For

Love’s a promise they kept

till end and beyond

The daughter heard, not the beep,

But constant drone if a dead heart

Teary eyes wandered to the clock,

Just shy of midnight, and she

Broke down and cried

For in the end, they were

Never a day apart