I've been trying to feel the way you would feel things: 

Unafraid of building homes in people, 

until they begin to feel like roots that hold you down. 

Restlessly making goals without plans, 

and goals without plans are just dreams, 

so that's what I have: just dreams. 

Your love for meals half-cooked, 

and fights half-fought 

follows me into every new life I step in. 

I'm writing songs for my plants in your absence 

just in case you're watching, 

because I want you to know: 

I'm living the life you left behind in me. 

But just in case you think 

I can't love anything anymore without thinking of you, 

I want you to know that right now we're close to summer, 

and the flowers keep blooming in my front yard 

as relentlessly as the ringing absence 

of your apology when you left, 

and they're making it hard for me to think of things 

as complicated as sadness and anger and you. 

But I've been trying to feel the way you would feel things, 

so I suppose it's okay if I take a moment and rest, 

because I know I'll fall in love again 

come every summertime... 

like you. 

© Ashka Naik