Exile

You exile me
From your life
The way this country
Exiles you
From its borders
Eroding my love
Until it turns in on itself
And becomes hatred
Traumatized
Not by your being forced to leave
But by your choosing to do so
Well before
Your date of departure
Abandoning me
On the jagged rocks
As the cold and unrelenting waves
Crash over me again and again
Without mercy
And the comfort of your arms
Is nowhere to be found

©2019 by Loolwa Khazzoom. All rights reserved. No portion of this article may be copied without author’s permission.