Unfolding-touch

A Ghazal

What pressure could not break, it shaped — memory curled in stone, breath held in bends — a whisper of unfolding-touch. (Picture: Kink band folds in the Permian of New Mexico, USA, Source: Wikipedia)

I lingered where silences came together,
   Phir ek lamhs ne saans loṭāī — unfolding-touch.
(Then a moment's touch returned my breath — unfolding-touch.)

The field knew more than fear could ever hold,
 Its edges softened by unfolding-touch.

Maps failed. What remains is exhaustion—
   You fold a note in my pocket — unfolding-touch.

Safety froze — it was too long— we died.
 You are breathing with me again — unfolding-touch.

I once thought nothing taught me how to stay,
 Your care—threadlike—pulled me through—unfolding-touch.

Between two known terrains— we dare to feel unknown,
 The world keeps forming — unfolding-touch.

I won’t come back — do I have a choice?
Ah, ghazal, you are folding that undoes return—
 unfolding-touch.

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