When you needed passage, I pulled you into
my burning boat, protecting you from waters
bitterly cold, and in that safety,
I wished we could have stayed always.
but you knew I was a resident of
an already descending day
so you created a considerable space
between you and me, choosing not to see
my forfeited forever, my given eternity.
If only your eyes would have given you away.
Instead, expressionless and opaque, your face stone
as I carried you along, nothing to give, nothing to say,
but still holding on, biding your time
till end of day, waiting for a new dawn.
AYESHA F. HAMID 