Valediction

The day of our last parting, the rain
        refused to let up, pelting the window

pane in relentless waves. At least
        it was something we could look at.

Necessary, for the best, not really
        an end, I reasoned with dull anodynes.

Your head angled away in defiant rage,
        you said nothing. I faltered. The rain

poured in gray sheets on the buildings
        and billboards, blurring the contours

of the known, all faith suddenly infirm.
       Your gaze fixed in the gray distance,

perhaps you saw something I couldn't.
       Perhaps, maybe, if only. The minutes 

stung like needles of rain. The clouds 
       conferred, lightning struck the gavel,

and the universe rumbled its verdict.

Nausheen Eusuf's poems have appeared in PN Review, Wasafiri, World Literature Today, and other journals.