forever indifferent

there are places you don’t know yet and places that you do

places you’re just beginning to discover and places you once knew

places that possess you and places that you think you own

places you’ve lived in and places where you’ve grown

places you associate with sounds and smells for long-forgotten reasons

and in your head there are places you long for, one for every season

places that come unbeckoned, fully formed

the playgrounds, the messy classrooms, the echoing dorms

the balcony with the crumbling parapet from where you saw the black kite

and places that you struggle to recreate lying awake at night

the hue of the paint on the wooden pillars always elusive

the gate the wall the room like solitary characters in a warm light perfusive

the paths you took daily getting all mixed up in your head

and you wonder if you can ever go back and check

you remember going home as a kid in the vacations

but home was just home with its garden and its terrace with no relation

to the town where it stood the place you’ll never know

there was no one to meet there was nowhere to go

and thus there are places you’ll never know

for you got too close too soon

and then parted and returned but forgot to greet

and though you met your eyes didn’t meet

and you thought you knew them really well

until you found out too late that you didn’t

and you thought they liked you but you should’ve known

that places are forever indifferent

they’re like difficult lovers, experienced, full of tact

well aware of the heartache and the inevitable gaps

and so they keep their distance, their armours intact

forever aloof, their feelings always under covers
no wonder cats fall for places

they make for apt lovers