Imagine yourself the sort
who if offered a doorway to Faerie
would step through
or if aliens swung by your house
with an all-expense-paid trip to the Lesser Magellanic
(no return)
would grab a towel and go.
Then imagine
they give you a day to say goodbye.
What
oh what
would you say goodbye to?
Tell your mother?
Tell your lover? (he’s not allowed to come along,
though he wouldn’t want to)
Tell your best friend? (who would.)
Would you have sex for hours and hours
or cry as the sun set
and walk the night, watching stars, until the dawn.
Immerse yourself in Casablanca
or horror double features
and a trip to McDonald’s.
What would you remember of humans?
Why aren’t you with them now?
*****
M.A. Mohanraj
February 16, 1994