Face recovery tool

A 'stranger' came to me in a dying dream,

asking for my well-being.

His mannerisms told me I knew him.

From a long time ago.

A time when I had fewer alien faces around me.

Yet I wondered who the hell he was,

and why I couldn't recall his face.

After all, I knew him, right?

This was one of those dreams that you remember,

Long after the night goes to sleep.

But the man went away with the night.

And didn't come back.

Leaving me chafing for moments.

But then I went back to work.

We all ultimately do.

Chafe when things slip away.

And then go back to work.

Sanity is invaluable.

Sanity is mighty important.

Not a bit of sarcasm to bite you.

Please try to understand.

Sometimes when work leaves me alone,

but very few times, trust me,

your face floats up,

Taking me back, 

way back in the mists of memory.

And the odd question I then ask is:

“Have I remembered you,

in this list of vanishing faces?”



(Note: This is one of the five entries that made me break into the top 50 writers in India in Hashtag Kalakar's Poetry and Creative Writing Competition Season 1, held in 2021)