It’s 14:13 in Kuala Lumpur

12:13 in Colombo

17:43 in Melbourne

10:43 in Sharjah

Its 1:43 in Toronto

22:43 in BC

6:43 in London

And 14:13 in Perth. 

We’re scattered across the globe,

But we left our footprints 

In Hiriketiya sand.

Our laughter in your grandmother’s house

And the marks of our stupidity

In Fairway Apartments Rajagiriya. 

On the loneliest nights 

I think of guardroom conversations

And deep midnight heart to hearts

That only the bats that haunt the trees 

Have heard.

I look at empty space

And think of tea parties at your kitchen table and

Screaming in the backseat during 

Late night drives. 

Yala songs sing me to sleep,

And I remember jeep rides

That leave you sore

And coated in dust. 

In the mornings I think of birding expeditions.

Orioles’ and Magpie- Robins’ and Sunbirds’ songs. 

In my solitude I realise 

I am a map of places,

A mosaic of memories and love.

And I have learnt,

That home lives in my breath

It spills from my tongue

And it is etched in my skin.

Written by Zayd