A Letter To Maryam

By Fahima Nahid

Dear Maryam Jo,

In all fairness to my failed attempts to let this reach you, I'll write this out, out loud, for my gratitude. After you left, I visited where you were once bathed in childhood.

 The kolba you narrated carried the essence of your tales of nostalgia. There was a little souvenir for you to open, but now it's in your memory. So I opened it up for you, and there was a letter from your baba.

 Among all the griefs that he mastered, he mentioned your departure too. Time has been cruel to him, too, when the uprising peaked and maybe he learnt that letting you go should've been the last thing for him to do.

To me, you've been the light in Rasheed's dungeon. All the years of your turmoil will forever be etched in me. Just to let you know, I'll always owe a part of mine to you.

I'll remember, that the only time you raised your hand was the last time you could, only to set us free, maybe yourself too, from the shackles of your plights.

In all my awareness I'll believe in the world where you'll return to Gul Badan, your home. I'll believe that you'll stay a little longer in your childhood, and your cherished moments won't slip away until you're tired of them, and Pinocchio would caress you to sleep.

Maryam Jo, if there's a world where you'll return and there we meet again I hope I'm the first one to leave and you're the last one to stay, free, happy, in the warmth of love, in the cradle of care.

If you ever return "o the heart of Gul Badan", Gul Badan will start to live again with you, within you.

Until then, until death, O Maryam Jo, 

deer me yadigy- I'll miss you.

I hope you've reached freedom by now....

Truly yours, Layla

By Fahima Nahid