Promise me that you will whisper softly
Before you bid me tender farewell-
A grieving ode from the lips that be not stilled
Or I will wilt away for I loved thee so deeply.

Promise me not a heavenly aura encircling me
Like the halo around a seraph,
For I am mortal, so promise me a gentle touch
To pacify the soul that may go astray.

Promise me not dreams of what happens after you return,
For I hope not for your homecoming.
If you leave me now, promise me that you will realise
Your dreams with whomever you desire.

Promise me if faced with yet another trial,
You will not emotionally fail or abuse the other
And rip that someone’s heart and soul
As you have done with mine, for now and forever.

Promise me, should our paths interweave
In the crossroads of life again,
You won’t just shrug your shoulder and disappear.
Let me not be forgotten as yet another stranger,
Though I have lost the right to ask
That you remember me, that you remember us…

Oh these are the promises I seek from thee,
But I should give you something in return too
As I have always done, though it was all the time
Giving from my side and never receiving until now.

So here is the promise of a heartbroken man
You once thought you loved, in your words,
Your teenage crush…
From the stirrings of my heart,
Let me try to express the depth of my emotion-
A devotion that is dying a dog’s death
In the desolate alley of your waning purity.

Now what shall I bestow you with?
You will have everything when I leave you to yourself.
Is there anything left to be said and done by me,
I wish to enquire?

But I remain still, for the words stalled on my tongue
And again, I had to pretend I didn’t care
As I searched deeply in your eyes, wistfully…
Hopelessly wishing that you wouldn’t desert me.

I’ve experienced love in its completeness
And I’ve tasted the acidic infidelity by you;
My mind is battling all the ambivalent emotions
Of a man who loved you,
Of a man who was betrayed by you…

The volatile merging of tenderness and bitterness
Makes me a demented devil waiting, wanting
To be exorcised.
Imagining the future without you is agonising,
How dark and forbidding would be the dismal days;
How long and austere would be the ascetic nights.

Silent tears spilled as I wept, the chords of my laden heart
Broken, as I solemnly promise to honour your wish
To sever the bond that binds us together, letting you
Leave with the savage tide that stormed in to rob our love,
Depriving me of my dreams, as it carried them off
To the philandering sea.
Our future seemed so perfect, right there in our hands,
But the sands had to trickle through our fingers.

So part, we must,
I will not hate you or despise,
I will always love you,
As we part company, it may become a lonely trudge,
But I need to be far, far away from you.
This is the last promise I ask of you,
To let me go too.