Tale

Dilruba Ahmed


 

We have
always wanted
a way home— 

a way home
to that house
in the forest 

a house by turns
loving and cruel 

if only because
to love
is to suffer

inconsolably.
To be eaten
alive by it.    

We want  
we eat     we feel

too much.
A reluctant
abandonment 

but we are
orphaned
nonetheless. 

We still need
the steaming food. 

We still long
for the blankets
the soft 

soft beds…