Waltz: English poem by Hibah Shabkhez

 

My truest friends are all imaginary

I may forget them for months at a time,

Or rename them to erase some eerie

Secret I’ve let slip; but they do not mind

At all.

We never part:

 

I do sometimes give them more concrete shapes,

Like window-panes or the handles of doors,

Or brocaded flowers on the brown drapes –

But they morph back to tile-shadows on floors

And fall

Upon my heart.

 

Walk me through sorrow.

Lead me by the hand

Like a sleep-walking child;

Lead me across the sand

To the sea.

 

You are the answer:

To the question I

Did not know I must ask;

To the last mission I

Must fulfill –

 

Walk me through sorrow.

Lead me by the hand

Like a sleep-walking child;

Lead me across the sand

To the sea.

 

You are the reason

For laughter and grace

In this last, glowing fall;

For the smile on my face

As I croon –

 

Walk me through sorrow.

Lead me by the hand

Like a sleep-walking child;

Lead me across the sand

To the sea.