The Things I Leave Behind

By Kausar Kaashifa

I have a playlist of songs

I’ll never listen to-

each note a memory of you.

I have a bottle of perfume,

the one I’ll never wear,

its scent still carrying echoes of us.

I have a diary

I’ll never read again;

its pages filled with stories we wrote.

I have a dress,

the one I’ll never wear,

stitched with memories of those days.

Sometimes, I feel the pull to revisit all,

but I’d never trade my peace

for a fleeting piece of nostalgia.

By Kausar Kaashifa