by Sana Showkat

At just six, with tiny hands,

I stood where no child understands.

She smiled like skies that softly shine

That gentle, ageless soul was mine.

Selfless heart and veiny hands,

Who held the world in quiet strands.

Love and strength in every prayer,

She was my calm, my warmth, my air.

Seventeen years have passed, but still I cry,

It feels like yesterday, The goodbye.

I saw her lips, so purple, cold,

But all her love I still behold.

She prayed for us with every breath,

And watched us grow from life to death.

Now I describe her to my kin,

But feel the ache deep down within.

We are not like her no, not at all,

She stood like mountains, we just fall.

I’m proud of her, ashamed of me,

She was the light I long to be.

I’ll never hear her voice again,

But echoes of her still remain.

They dance like wind inside my soul,

Still making broken pieces whole.

O Allah, grant her peace so wide,

Place her in Jannah, by Your side.

Make us the kind she’d smile upon,

So all her pain was not for none.

A part of me went with her soul,

That day she left she made me whole.

And though I’ve grown, I still feel small…

Because she was my first to fall.

P.S. I’m sorry we failed you.

But I carry you, in all I do.