I was standing in front of his vulnerability
I was so strong yet all I had for him was mercy and pity
There he lay having lost everything that he called his own
He was even losing himself; I made that out from his tone
I looked through his eyes into the depths of his agony
I walked miles inside his gardens of torment
He stared back at me with a desperate gaze
I knew his whole life story in that one moment
I tried to console him, though his lingo wasn’t my own
I knew what he was facing was more than one could endure
I held his hand though I knew wouldn’t ease his pain
Tears filled up my eyes as I could not bear his ordeal no more
I said things will be okay though I knew I lied
I soon realized may be my being here doesn’t mean anything to him
So I took a deep breath and decided to leave
I thought it was past my contemplation; his world was way too dim
After looking into his eyes one last time,
And thinking I can never make him feel fine
I stood up and thought I’d call it a day
Suddenly I felt his hand grip mine as his eyes begged ‘stay’!
By Nadiya Najib
I wrote this poem on a 7 year old boy while volunteering at PIMS hospital Islamabad. His mother and sister had been killed and his arm had just been amputated.
It was a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that took place on 8th October 2005, along with sections of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. More than 80,000 people perished as a result of the quake, while an estimated 4 million others were left homeless.
