The Final Word
The last word is never uttered.
The period mark never placed.
Even when the conversation ends
the last word remains unsaid.
Talks are punctured
by silent semicolons
Conversations hang
on the hooks of commas.
The lulls in the speech,
only hyphenated pauses.
The final word always remains unsaid.
It hangs like the unfallen dewdrop
at the tip of the leaf
refracting a thousand tints
at the intersection of the branch.
It remains between us –
unspoken, suspended,
Connecting one meeting with the next.
Clearing a pathway to another tryst;
Leaving the promise of a continuum
Even beyond death.
The unspoken final word is hope.
karuppurojakkal 