i came to the museum to find you
written by ayisha riaz

i came to the museum to find you;

i’m just a museum of everything i’ve loved
painted, repainted, beautifully molded
i am part oil and some parts stone

a gallery of people who came before me
some gave me this uneven smile
some taught me to use it freely

an exhibition of light passing through stained glass
scattered and bent, a mosaic of moments
i carry every shade of the love that stayed

archives of history and renaissance
odes to war and peace
the classical symphony and the modern dance

[i am framed in contemporary collections
with chipped gold edges and fingerprinted reflections

and if you’re somewhere looking too—
just know i left room in every frame for you]

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