"Streetlights" by Amruta Gaiki

Weary from my travels, I

turned the corner into their lane

Coming home, back to them

Everything a little different, but still just the same.

The selfsame faces beaming round the table

A meal and some deliberation

The warmth washed around me in waves

Even in that dry summer, offering salvation.

My eyes were as bright as the yellow lights

And I heard your laugh through the lull

I can tell you now, as surely as I felt it then

It’s simple.

And when we walked back, stumbling and giggling

I told you about my heartbreak and you told me about yours

You’re aimless tonight and I’m throwing myself off the cliff

Jubilant, gorgeous, screaming out the words to David Bowie’s “Heroes.”

I don’t know what the year will bring

If love will ever be within our reach

But I can tell you now, as surely as I felt it then

For those few brief moments, we were unquestionably alive.

Amruta Gaiki (She/Her) is an Indian graduate student majoring in English. She likes reading, writing, and going on walks with earphones plugged in. Her work has been published by Rejection Letters, Livina Press, Bubble, and Alien Buddha Zine. She is an editor at The Milk House. Follow her on Twitter & Instagram @flames_n_ice and read her blog at: https://goingliterary.wordpress.com/