Kashfia Nahreen

You thought you had escaped, didn't you? / Outran everything that weighed you down

teardrops trickling down / the valley / mingling with the static— / hollow waves of Kaptai lake

Echoes of your voice ring in my ears / As the world turns scarlet in front of my eyes

We have built a civilisation / of sky-high buildings, / of concrete cities, / of disconnected communities

Reya looks out the window of the bus, the glint of sunlight falling across her oval face makes her olive skin shimmer.