A Meow Lost
Laila Kalan
I sit by myself against the wall
Knees pulled to my chest staring across the hall.
Quick change of mind, arms go around my shanks
Forehead touching my knees, hands meet to fill the blanks.
They miss what once filled them: a rolling, strolling fur ball
Purring and kneading its paws, shedding much of its hair on my shawl.
A tear escapes the eye, another follows soon after.
My legs turn into a dam, no signs of laughter.
I hear a distant cry losing distance, head rises up & eyes beg to see
A vision of what is lost and gone, taking a part of me and all its glee.
If I may ask,
Can a heart so tender
Enclosed within a skeletal frame
Be beating inside you, but under someone else’s name?
“Meow.”
I swear I heard the cry again.
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Laila Kalan is a junior doctor and teacher based in Dubai. Due to her mixed ethnicity, she can write in multiple languages. She is an animal rescuer and currently hosts more than 20 cats in her warm apartment. A couple of her poems have been framed in a cafe in Oman. This is her debut publication in a magazine.
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