Sometimes…

Sometimes you grow weary of this life,

You realize who your true friends really are.

Left all alone amidst a web of lies,

I didn’t like growing up, Mother…

​Calling themselves “friends,” they act as foes,

Devising different tricks each passing day.

They trample upon my pure love and soul,

I didn’t like growing up, Mother…

​The worries of this world will never end,

The adult world feels so foreign to me.

Regrettably, it’s too late to return to childhood…

Otaxonova Nodira Farxod qizi was born in Shovot District, Khorezm Region, Uzbekistan. She is a second-year student at the Faculty of Uzbek Philology at Karakalpak State University.