Waiting
The following is a more current poem involving world events, taking place in Turkey, but laid at Saudi Arabia’s door, involving the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi from the perspective of his “widowed” fiancée.
Thirty-six, not so young,
but with love, what do years matter?
Twenty-three years difference was nothing to you,
you waited and waited, finally your father agreed,
won over by his words, his laugh, his love for you.
To think it was your impending marriage that led him there.
He just needed some papers, while you waited
and waited. And now you must wait forever,
with a still from a video of you holding hands,
in love with each other, with life, with words,
with freedom.
You waited and waited to learn the truth,
but who would want to know that truth?
Now—forever—you wait and wait
just to sleep
without the nightmares.
In honor of Hatice Cengiz and Jamal Khashoggi
