Poem Full of Worry Ending with My Birth by Tarfia Faizullah
Poem Full of Worry Ending with My Birth
Tarfia FaizullahI worry that my friends
will misunderstand my silenceas a lack of love, or interest, instead
of a tent city built for my own mind,I worry I can no longer pretend
enough to get through anotheryear of pretending I know
that I understand time, though Ican see my own hands; sometimes,
I worry over how to dress in a worldwhere a white woman wearing
a scarf over her head is assumedto be cold, whereas with my head
cloaked, I am an immediate symbolof a war folks have been fighting
eons-deep before I was born, a meteor.
MARGINALIA
1.
You who are reading this: you are seen. You are witnessed. I say it with all honesty and affection, because I have always been yours. The ache will ebb, my love, it will. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But it will. Until then: here is my hand. Take it.
2.
You who are reading this: take a deep breath. I am here. You worry it will all be gone tomorrow, and for reasons unclear and maybe unknown. I cannot tell you it won’t happen, but what I can say is I won’t let you go alone. It’ll be you and me.
3.
You who are reading this: so it seems it was all for nothing. So it seems this is the way it falls, this is the way it ends. Oh, my darling. I am sorry. It hurts, I know, I know. I am embracing you. Let yourself be held now. You are loved, so loved.
4.
You who are reading this: we will endure this, whatever this is.
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in Registers of Illuminated Villages by Tarfia Faizullah, published by Graywolf Press, 2018. (Available direct from Graywolf Press • Also on: Amazon • Bookshop)
ABOUT TARFIA FAIZULLAH
Tarfia Faizullah was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Bangladeshi immigrants and raised in Texas. She is the author of two poetry collections, Registers of Illuminated Villages (Graywolf, 2018) and Seam (SIU, 2014). Her writing has appeared widely in the US and abroad in the Daily Star, BuzzFeed, Hindu Business Line, Huffington Post, Ms. magazine, the New Republic, the Nation, Oxford American, Poetry magazine, and the Academy of American Poets website, as well as in the anthology Halal If… (more)
Read more poems by Tarfia Faizullah • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Website • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
- Explore other works in pursuit of: anxiety • isolation • existence • Or browse the index
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Jennifer
I wish there was no worry….
Your words are felt and the poem paints a picture. Thank you for sharing and expressing.
susannah9
Yes! Powerful!!! Thank you!!
On Thu, Apr 8, 2021 at 1:36 PM Read A Little Poetry wrote:
> T. posted: ” 1.You who are reading this: you are seen. You are witnessed. > I say it with all honesty and affection, because I have always been yours. > The ache will ebb, my love, it will. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. > But it will. Until then: here is my hand. Ta” >
m
Thank you. The ache is overwhelming today. I want to believe it really will ebb. Even if it seems impossible now.
yy
for the past few days I’ve been using the random poem function to read a poem from your backlogs every day. this was today’s. just wanted to thank you for the incredible love and care you’ve put into this project, for the messages you leave in your marginalia. i’ve been getting into poetry for the first time recently and finding this treasure trove of poetry has felt like a warm hug. thank you.
T.
This place truly has been a labour of love. It means a lot to know that the care I put into this project are witnessed and appreciated. Poetry is one of my deepest loves, and my wish for you is for poems to find you when you need them, to anchor you when you are feeling lost, and to embrace you when you are tending to your wounds. Thank you for being here. Please stay as long as you need.
T.