(A vegetable hawker yelling gajar lo mooli lo kheera lo tamatar lo)

I have been wake. He is fast asleep.

There is a spot above his right brow on his forehead, if I kiss it, his face lets out the most beautiful involuntary smile. He sleeps, unaware of the hundreds of kisses it has taken me to find this spot. Unaware that he is wearing a blanket of my kisses on his back.Unaware that I have kissed no one as much and as the way I kiss him. I sleep, laughing at myself, thinking, “and you thought you couldn't do this, you thought this was stupid, why can’t you stop kissing him???”

(palak lo methi lo saag lo)

I am awake. He is half asleep.

I softly untangle his legs from mine.As I gently pull away my head from his chest, his arm pulls on me, tugging me back to where I was, close.It’s like a kid and his rag doll, I move away, he pulls me back. I tell myself to sleep, wishing we could freeze in time here right now, sleep for a hundred years, this close, this way.

(gobi lo gajar lo mattar lo mooli lo)

I am awake. He is awake, talking on the phone to his girlfriend.

I whisper to myself,"Kisses don’t mark a man and rag dolls get replaced" and go back to sleep.