Is this reality?
A prolonged nightmare I’d say.
Looks like life has a great sense of humor,
But it’s not us who’s laughing.

Such fragile beings,
Yet we live so indifferently,
Is this naivety wrapped in ignorance?
Or truth shadowed by denial?
Questions I stumble upon,
More often than I’d like.

Surrounded by forced smiles,
fake optimism, and hidden uncertainty.
But, hope remains the only way out.
I want to believe it –
I need to.

Flashing through blurry days,
My sanity is hanging by a thread,
Stuck within these four walls of despair,
Amongst red-stained scrubs and Iodoform-ridden hallways,
While liquid lava is forced into your veins,
Agony and anxiety seep their way in
As I sit there,
Watching you slowly –
Burn away.

It happened.
Countless drugs, experts, and prayers,
Could not steer away your ultimate destination.
What began as one,
Metastasized into many,
Diminishing the whole.

What a traitor the body is,
Nourish it,
Clean it,
Love it,
Only for it to betray us.

Every fiber of your being,
Bursting with emotions,
Filled with experiences,
And wholesome memories,
Now reduced to ashes.
Such is our fate –
Anticlimactic and saddening.

Now as I play operation,
Trying to glue back my shattered pieces,
I realize,
The wounded heart can be stubborn,
As if a permanent scar is carved into it,
But with time and courage,
It seems to heal.

I may not see the world the same way,
But that’s the price we pay –
For being human.

Muskan is an international student from Kenya pursuing a major in Molecular and Cellular Biology.