My Invisible Words

In the heart of a darkened city
I sit beside my torn papers,
A pen swinging between my fingers,
My mind
A Halloween night—
All dressed in black,
Masks on yellow faces,
Eyes burning like quiet fires,
Yet somehow smiling,
Something glows at their edges—
Is it their sweat or tears?

I heard the screams,
The sighs,
The faint cries—
Her last words
Unfinished,
Lost in her tiny dictionaries
Before the shattered coffins.

They say hearts can break—
But no one tells you
They make a sound.
I heard it
When I passed by her.

The poet inside me falters,
Holding an inkless pen,
Surrounded by crumpled papers,
A wild imagination of a better world
Crushed by a bitter one.

The words bloom inside my mind
Like a divine miracle;
They are etched in memory,
Learned by heart—
Yet this time,
My hand chooses not to write.

Mere vanity!

If my words are helpless before her tears,
Crawling before the flood,
Stuck in narrow streets,
Struggling to see the light,
To catch it for my people—
Then these words betrayed me too.

Will my words restore hope?
Will they do any good—
Whisper the truth?
What if the world knew it—
(Though they already know)
What would happen?
What then?!

My Invisible Words by Farah Elbahnasawi.

Artwork by Rima Elbahnasawi.

September 5, 2026