(Collaboration with Shikha S. Lamba)
She holds a faded polaroid
against a rubbled horizon. Fragmented
rock was once a home.
Holding the tiny hands of the tiny bodies
leaning against her, she promises them
her limbs for walls, her back as a foundation,
the soft spread of her stomach for them
to lay upon at night.
Thank god for this grief,
this orphaned hearth heating
her hollowed heart.
A reminder: a true home,
despite absence, can never be destroyed
This piece was first published in Issue 3 (June 2024) of Spark to Flame Journal.
