the distance between us grew steadily

When I left her door I thought

she’d try to stop me

                  and we might be reconciled.

The wind billowed through our clothes;

and as she uncrossed her legs to get up

                  I thought she’d come to call me back.

But she didn’t try to stop me

and she didn’t ask me to stay;

                  and she didn’t call me

                  and she didn’t ask me to come back.

I walked away slowly

and the distance between us grew steadily,

                  till our separation became finite.

[Kaifi Azmi (Syed Fateh Hussain Rizvi), ‘Humiliation’, trans. from the Urdu by Mumtaz Jahan]