What Would You Do When I Am Gone?

1. Would you cry tears of blood,
   Or perform like a well-rehearsed actor on stage
   Acting the script down to each pause and sigh,
   Rolling your body like a prayer mat
   laid out in sorrow, for eyes to behold?
2. Would you stay longer beside my grave
   when footsteps fade away,
   Or would you offer prayers
   for the soil to welcome me with open arms
   then walk away too,
   like I was just another chapter
   You never meant to reread?
3. Would you tell tales of me like stories with imaginary characters
   less complex but easier to decipher,
   Or would you erase me like written text with chalk wipe off the board
   As if my existence is a myth?
4. Would you tell them we once shared something sacred,
   Absurd in the belief that we’re two sides of a coin
   even death can’t do us apart
5. Would you sit amidst my dirge gathering,
   and when prayer rises from unfamiliar voices skyward,
   Would you utter Ameen in silence,
   hoping each word finds me
   somewhere beyond reach
   where time no longer exists
   and my troubles finally cease?
6. Would you tell them they lived a library of words
   Sitting on the edges of your lips, some tucked in between your teeth
   that were meant for me but never saw the light of day?
7. Would the things left unsaid between us
   make you vigilant at night like a culprit at bay,
   Flinching with every reminiscence of me?
8. Would you stay with my mother after my Janāzah,
   Sit beside her in silence when words fail,
   And when she speaks of me with trembling lips,
   Would you try to picture me
   Somewhere in a garden where words can’t express,
   Where peace grows like wildflowers so she can smile knowing her son is with his
   beloved?
9. Would you tell them I once loved you
   Like the very breath in my lungs?
   That I chased you
   Like a shepherd following his flock
   Not out of routine,
   But because without them,
   He simply cannot live.
10. Or will you confess our parting was the cruelest lie
    That I became the echo that no cave has withstood?
    Tell them my love remains a phantom on your heart,
    the constant pressure that your spirit has missed,
    a quiet, deep longing that proves we never really died?

Abbas Yusuf Alhassan is a poet and a dedicated student of Fisheries and Aquaculture. Passionate about creative expression, he shares his work with a growing literary audience on Instagram. He has co-authored two anthologies: *Life and Death* (SGSH Publication) and *If Only Words Were Enough* (Al-Zehra Publication). Abbas values the art of learning and unlearning, continuously seeking new ideas and perspectives. While he studies life underwater, his soul resides in verse and stanzas.

Find him on Instagram: @Itzz_Abbasssss  

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