Picture - 2

That your brows should tilt,
                                this way,
That you should always be in black.

That I should steal a picture of you
and feast,
in a cubicle, in isolated lunch-hours,
skipped
(so I could feast
on a picture of you).

That your lips should swell,
                     this way,
and always be speaking,
or smoking,
or both.

That I should turn
into a mess of words,
so I can figure
on your lips, when you say,
someday -
"there was this girl I used to know;
she fought me,
                   this way,
and she gave me
                   this,
and she stole this picture".

(C) Annie Zaidi, 2004.