Poet’s Corner: The Year 2025

Here is the latest installment of Poet’s Corner, presented by the Edmonds Poetry Group.

The Year 2005

The first 10 months of my baby’s life were the last 10 months of my mother’s

It was the winter of 2005
My heart broke with joy, with gratitude to God for the Blessing which was my baby boy

I was an old first time mother as mothers go and my precious son
a perfect gift for my patience, my prayers.

My mother held her new born grandson
with pride, with courage

For her limbs ached and she spoke of it not

Her soft skin, her arms which once
cradled me
Now shriveled and sagging

And hiding the contours of a savage poison
Corroding her insides
A rare kind of cancer they said
It comes camouflaged
Masquerading as normal cells
As the doctors stared at the white speckled scans
I searched their faces for some sign
that did not signal defeat
But their eyes were cold, factual and scientific
like compassion had gone on a coffee break

And so I wheeled her out
Her head tilted elegantly to one side,
her back straining to stay erect
still slumping slightly

There was a chief of doctors
and he called his students
Presented Her to them
in brutal, basic terms
He taught them about Her illness,
about the frightening foreign guest in Her body

I wanted to put my fingers in my ears

I didn’t want to hear wouldn’t have to hear him speak
Spouting his scientific jargon

But a young student doctor was watching
so I remained calm and
looked out of the hospital window
The young doctor with a yellow scarf
she was searching my face

Her own eyes full of sympathy,
she looked away from me and at the ground

I held back the ache in my eyes
with all the strength in my heart
But in my ears I could still hear the robotic droning of their dark prognosis.

Unabashed, shameless voices.
That’s what they sounded like to me

I had nowhere to hide
I thrust my pain somewhere so deep inside even I couldn’t reach it

So as my son explored his sweet baby joys and I basked in his soft melodious cries
My heart bursting with love as every new minute went by…

I then held my Mummy’s still lovely face
And pointing out the sunshine outside
I tried to conceal the truth through gentle lies

It was a year of pride,
of immeasurable joy
a year of courage,
of a heartbreaking goodbye.

Zeinab Agha

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Zeinab Masud Agha is a trained Humanistic Counsellor and a Certified Tiny Habits Coach. She has a passion for prose and poetry and has had articles published in newspapers and magazines. Zeinab is currently working on her first book as well as a collection of poems. She loves the writers community in Edmonds and the greater Seattle area. Zeinab was a past recipient of the non-fiction award at WOTS. Currently based in Seattle, Zeinab has straddled cultures and crossed continents, having lived in over 10 different countries. She’s still searching for a place to call home.