
Writer: Mariam Elsanabry
Editor: Abdulelah Ba Tarfi
An echo that I hear far away,
A sound I hear everyday.
Loud and quiet.
Dark and bright.
A different voice every night.
It’s not unknown;
I know this voice.
“It’s you.”
“IT’S YOU.”
I heard it scream
A siren in my sleep.
I wake up – afraid – and weep
No, I am not weak;
They were just too loud this week.
I play my songs.
Solace I seek;
Numbness I greet.
I need to wake up from this nightmare.
Who are you?!
What are you doing to me?!
“Sleep,” I heard it whisper.
“Sleep. You’ll know the answer.”
I wake up in my dream and see
A different person in front of me.
“Who are you?!” I asked again.
“I am someone you met in the past.”
I turn around and see
Another one in front of me.
“You… you resemble me.”
But taller I see.
Older he seems.
He smiled at me.
Different angles.
Different views.
A wide vast mirror and I saw us one and the same.
I greeted the future me.
And left the past me.
Farewell old past me.
The last echo came from my past life:
“I regret no sin I’ve done.”
I forgive myself for all that’s done.
For to be wicked is to be alive.
For to live you have to thrive.