Seaside gifts
I have collected
Every discarded shell of a reason
Arranged them in neat design of argument
Splashed with the spray of persuasion
To ask you to stay
I have rehearsed them
More often than I have counted
The waves under my breath
I have wondered if the simple act of obstinacy
Of refusing reason or permission
Would be enough to keep you
But yet I know I will offer neither
If you should choose to walk away
For deep within me I know
That the ocean of love
Cannot be contained in
Crushing embrace of ownership
But know this much even as you leave
Should you ever ,pause and look behind you
You will find me here at the seaside often
Gifting your name to the waves
—shubha