If there is one language common to the world, it is the language of affection. Attractions swells, sex sells, motherhood tears the body apart, nostalgia seeps into the soul, heartbreak reverberates in the thrum of our blood as humans continue to love and lose. I’ve been trying to encapsulate those affections that different languages across the world express, through a myriad of stunning words. Sensations of love, lust and loss are fleeting through the course of our lives and yet forever, as we grow into the people we are meant to be. Eternal. So here it is – a series of poetry that captures affection in every syllable and word.

Dictionary of Affections is The Zoya Project language, common to the world…

ITTEFAQ

‘coincidence’

Did the sky,
Set herself on fire
Only when I opened my eyes?
So that I could see her
Painted
With the essence of roses and marigolds,
Golden oil and ripened mangoes
Burning smoke and split white light

Did the clouds conspire
To burst open
Only when the raindrops could stick to my skin?
So that I could feel
The tears of the Gods
Salted with the purity
Of a new beginning
And sprinkled with a wind scented with fresh wonder.

Did you look at me
Like I was the only thing in the world
Only when I couldn’t see or feel?
So that I would never know
What it felt like to live within the arms of
A coincidence
Rather than just
Witness it

ताकी हर दिल की धड़कन में
मैं कह सकूं
एक इत्तेफ़ाक़ बसा हुआ है।