(i) The Saffron Saint Sadness There was a sparkling deer. And that's where it started, leading to fire flames shrinking and sinking, grieving and giving. When she was captured, paint fell off from walls of life, clustering into huge masses of sadness. But more than that, betrayal. The war happened and she was called the first word uttered by its child. Warmth creeps in into every child's itchy or moist tongue and that's how he learns to call everything else in another language except for his mother. Heartbreak first took birth with the first voice raised against her, realising there was no sound proof box to keep her safe. Heartbreak first took birth when only red formed rainbow in her eyes and she decided to believe and become, not what he knew but who she did. Heartbreak was first born when she was left in the catastrophic woods with only tragedy knotted into the pallu of her saree. Heartbreak was first born when she cried fire to let nature blossom in bliss. (ii) The Golden Glorious Goodbye There was a sparkling flute. And that's where it started, leading to nights of unanswered prayers turned poetry and awaiting eyes turned eerie. When her braids were bedecked with psychedelic messengers of Persephone's maids, her hands were garnished with too many promises of 'lost love lives long' instead of a diamond ring. She looked at the moon and the stars through sieves and slivers but still the song kept going. Taking away. The one whom she'd preserved in the evenings of the 'dancing woods' and broken pots of innocence-filled love. Of broken poets of insolence-filled love. Heartbreak grew when she was first promised a return. Of not whole but a part of her love in waves of lakes and bubbles gushing over. Heartbreak grew when she was promised she won't drown and yet every drop that fell just deepened the ocean. Heartbreak grew when she refused to belong to anyone. To anyone else. Heartbreak grew when she believed she was losing, not realising she wasn't the queen but the prize thereafter. Heartbreak grew when she learnt to find him within her, within everything else and yet nowhere.
