"Echoes of Your Care"

 Again today, I fell sick —

yet the pain of illness is nothing

compared to the ache of separation.

Each time my body weakens,

my heart travels back to those days

when you were near —

your gentle care, your quiet concern,

your presence that wrapped me

like the safest shelter.

Under your shadow, I bloomed in health;

now, memories alone make me weaker.

I whisper, I need you…

but how could I ever say it?

You have your own world now,

your own storms to calm.

Even if I wish to,

I can’t share my pain anymore.

Tears trace my cheeks in silence,

my pillow drenched,

yet the flood never ends.

One calls me after her long day,

forgetting to listen

while I drown in my own words;

the other — just a door away —

never comes to see if I’m okay.

Oh heart, how long will you bleed?

When will you learn to bear

the ache of being unseen?

You are no longer

the little one of the house,

the one they once sheltered with love.

— Sobiya Amin