4.12 Open Water
 My Evening Shift

Words by Sumyrah Khan
December 2021

Mind-wanderings from a treetop

Sometimes I sit atop a tree, right when the sun brings its synthesis to see things as they are and not as they should be.

 

Recluse strangers. 

Unaware mingling. 

Meanders going about their way. 

 

To be forgotten for a while, 

I disappear. 

And a familiar state resumes  

as moments begin to dissociate. 

 

In those gaps I wonder: 

Who has time to pace sanctity? 

And give myself a few points for trying. 

 

Just then, I overhear the cautionary tales being sung by an old man

as he points up at the sky 

but he spots me instead. 

 

It’s nighttime and the birds are back - 

time to vacate their space.  

They too are done with their shift with strangers for the day.

My evening shift.png

Illustration by Jishnnu B

About Mysticeti's friend:

Sumyrah Afreen Khan is an International Law student from Dublin who recently published her first poetry collection Let Alone Hope. She is an activist for Muslim women rights and writes for Harvard University's Led By Foundation that works for empowering Muslim women.