An unearthly silence permeates the room

blue clouds of unease float around

and we sit there for hours, waiting for them to pass

***

when Nahid asks for cranberries, I tell her to wait till
Rafia chachi
comes/ afraid to tell her she might not/

***

If chachi was here
she would comfort us with stories/
and tell us we would come out of this rubble safe/ very safe
she would smile/ make us smile/

and then I am interrupted, suddenly, yet unsurprisingly
by the sounds of the bells
outside
signalling us to go,
telling us to unlearn the names of
the places whose names we’ve grown up loving all our lives

in a moment’s time.

– Trivarna Hariharan