Page 47 of The Circle of Exile

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“Do not take it off again by your own will, that’s what I am saying.”

Nothing changed this time. Iram nodded.

“Can I sit with Yathaarth?”

He nodded. Then watched her go. Again she was abandoning him in this. The childish, wounded animal inside him rattled the cage. He was tense, scared, nervous, broken, angry, in pain. And again she left.

10. One morning if I come knocking at your door…

One morning if I come knocking at your door,

Knowing that the mist has not yet settled over Dal.

That the rows of shikara bob in the water,

And lotuses are not yet plucked from their home.

My journey has been long and tired.

I crossed mountains,

Went beyond the heavens I knew to the heavens I don’t,

From faces that speak my language to faces that look at me different,

I had my road cut out.

I ran through a maze of mountains,

Bled over swelling rivers,

Landed in the thick of tangled roots,

Uprooted from the only family I knew —

You.

But don't you know what they say about the devil you know and the devil you don’t?

You were the heaven I knew,

And the heaven I lost.

But can it be so that my haven still waits for me?

That the lotuses I plucked left their roots in you?

So one morning if I come knocking at your door,

Knowing that you will still be plagued by sleep,

Knowing that you won't be dreaming of me,

Please, for the woman you once knew, open the door.

And see me.

Iram struggled to keep her eyes open as the tiny lights of an airstrip came closer. She didn’t look out of the window but the plane tilted and the lights pierced her eyes in the dark. What was happening to her? She hadn’t slept until after 4 every night these past months, sometimes not even after that. And now she couldn’t see straight.

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