Infinity Kiss

by Usama Mohammad

Once upon a time, there lived a strange old man

He was the keeper of stories and the whisperer of mysteries 

His most famous story was about the time he was immortal

“The old man has finally lost it”, this is what they said.

But stories have a strange hold over people, 

A hold of wonder which converts all disbelievers

It went something like this:

“I am immortal whenever I kiss my wife” 

He waited for the appalled gaze of his audience to shimmer away

“When I kiss her, it is the feeling of head rush on a stormy night 

The plethora of moments race each other to latch themselves onto my nerve endings

They keep repeating, overlapping, repeating, and overlapping

Till it is a never-ending series of unnumbered and unordered events

So many firsts, so many seconds, so many thirds, so many forevers

Time becomes arbitrary, 

For I

Live through an infinite sequence in a finite time frame”.

An innocent teardrop rested gently on the corner of his eyelid,

For each day his wife rests in her sleeping place, he gets more mortal.

Usama is a 20 year old currently pursuing an Econ/Math major with a minor in English at LUMS. He occasionally reads and writes to maintain his sanity. He could tell you why his taste in music, books, and movies is very cultured but then again that defeats the purpose of exclusivity doesn’t it? Check out instagram.com/versewala for more ramblings.

visual by ahad ali.

Ahad is a recent Sarah Lawrence graduate. He’s an artist with an interest in architecture, urban planning and cultural anthropology. Most of his work is based on the intersection of spaces and culture and ethnographic research. When he’s not questioning people about the impact food and culture has on physical spaces he can be found eating oatmeal and creating Spotify playlists.