The Siren

How could our silence be more deadly than our song?” she sneered.

“There’s always room for love,” Padma whispered. “Even if it’s as small as a crack in a door.”

I pulled him to me, wishing there was a way to be even closer.
We were stars. We were music. We were time.

She told me to live. . . .
I didn’t know how to tell Her that simply being alive was not enough to be called living.

You don’t have to seclude yourself to make it through this life.”

“stop pushing us away with Your anger.”

stayed away from his face, but he came back to me in a hundred different images

We were stars. We were music. We were time

his concern for me made me feel infinitesimally better

And I missed Akinli so deeply that it weighed down my unbreakable bones.