Regretfully Dad-Abu.

Regretfully Grandad,

I couldn’t attend your funeral

I wasn’t sad enough.

Not that I was short of love

Or you never let me feel,

I just wasn’t yours grandad- you were never a part of the deal.

Regretfully grandad I forgot you,

Shunned away from the responsibility of being like

You. Of being with you- because my life could never mix with yours.

Kismet.

There’s no room to spare-

There was never any conflict- I just wasn’t there

In that foreign terrain I’ve been made to call home

 

And you speak Punjabi Granddad.

I can’t and I don’t.

 

Aqsa Shaheen Ahmed is the Creative Writing Editor for I RISE Magazine.