a man
put on a wig
and made me
believe in magic

he didn’t talk
like everyone else
instead he chose
to speak
with awkward pauses
as if
he were
always

up

to
something

he drew his cloak
around him
slowly
like every second
was important

and promised
to teach us
how to stop dying
if we tried
hard enough

but he
didn’t try
hard enough

he made us
remember
a page number
better than
any other
page number
because this
page number
was in his voice

and his voice
was the kind of voice
that scripture
was made from

and now his voice
and him
are gone

a man
put on a wig
and made me
believe in magic

by Valmik Kumar