When I was young, my grandma warned me
Not to walk through the forest at night.
“Darkness swallows people up,
Poof! And you will wink out of sight.”
When I grew older, my mother warned me
Not to go near the wolves lurking outside.
“They will lap you up
Crunch! You will be gone in one big bite.”
Now I am older, but no one told me
That darkness can cloak homes and hearts
Worm its way into the brightest parts,
Or that wolves can burst through windows and doors
Come down in swarms like soldiers at wars.
And then you will have no place to hide,
Nowhere to go -
But into the night.
Bionote
Amal El-Sayed is a PhD candidate at Ain Shams University, Egypt, where she teaches English poetry at the Faculty of Al-Alsun (Languages). Her poems and stories appear in Wyldblood Magazine, Poets Reading the News, and Writers Resist.
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