... That glimmer of hope

She came running to me.
After years of severance.
Little did she know;
I hadn't uttered a word ever since...

She looked at me.
My face turned crimson.
She gazed, right into my eyes.
I blushed yet again.

His eyes echoed nothing
But the same unsullied innocence.
His lips trembled.
And his fingers.

It trickled down his cheek.
That little bead of tear.
He blinked.
And down came the next one.

Her face. The same affection.
It touched a chord; as it did before.
How do I tell her?
I can’t. I can never.

She caught my eyes again.
She smiled.
I broke down.
Slumped on my knees.

T’was never like this.
Did I gesticulate wrongly?
He used to rattle on and on;
Why doesn’t he anymore?

And then, it dawned on me…
And I knelt beside him.
I held him close.
And he wept harder.

It filled the void within.
The idyllic sense of bliss.
And she wiped my tears.
… my childhood sweetheart.

I take a step ahead..
I look back..
A smirk on my face..
I snicker.. at the blemishes of immaturity..

I realize..
A little too late though..
That though.. 'to err is human'..
It isn't exactly divinity to forgive..

None of 'em.. is godly enough..
To have a heart, swaddled in aurum..
It just doesn't get that simple.
The Plan has more than that in store.

Once a gaffe.. and it always remains one..
Even though t'was in the face of pettiness.
And then..
No backtracking.
Or, no looking back.
'cause if u do, there's no absconding.

And then, you are penalized.
No matter what the degree of error is.
And then, you are belittled,
For as long as they can.

The soul shrivels up,
'cause it can take no more.
The body.. or.. oh well.. the half-cadaver..
Flops gracefully.

Would its existence mean anything now?
The vultures of brutality eyeing it viciously.
And.. the sun sets.
The night cascading its way through.
Like an undulating chant.
And it shuts its eyes.