Alone in the Crowd

On the bus, people stand so close to one another that their breaths mix. And yet no one looks at anyone. Every eye is on a phone, every ear plugged with earbuds, every face wearing the quiet expression of someone who has grown used to being a stranger. This scene, I think, is the clearest portrait of the modern city: thousands of people in one square, and still, each one locked inside their own small cage.

When people talk about loneliness, they usually picture an old man living alone, or someone forgotten in a remote village. But today loneliness wears a different face — it sits among crowds, in the workplace, even at the family dinner table. A young man with hundreds of “friends” online who doesn’t know who to call in the evening; a woman who talks to dozens of people all day at the office, yet comes home to find no one asking how she is — these are the ordinary heroes of our time.

The causes of this can’t be traced to a single thing. Cities have grown larger, but courtyards have shrunk. Work has sped up, leaving no time for conversation. We tell ourselves the phone connects us to the whole world, yet more often than not it pulls us away from the person standing right beside us. When someone brings this up, others wave it off — “that’s just how the times are.” But the times didn’t become this way on their own. We built them this way, day by day, by putting off the time we owe each other.

The saddest part is that this loneliness is usually invisible. It doesn’t shout, doesn’t ask for help. It smiles, goes to work, posts a cheerful photo online. That’s exactly why it’s so hard to notice — neither the person carrying it nor those around them realize it right away. A person can live in this state for a long time, only facing the truth of it at night, once everyone else has gone to sleep.

This is not a problem that can be solved by a single law or a single initiative. But it can start with small things. Greeting a neighbor. Asking a coworker “how are you” and actually meaning it. Setting the phone aside and listening to someone until they finish speaking. These may seem like nothing, but they are the simplest way of telling another person: you are not invisible.

Perhaps all of us — at least once — have been that person: walking through a crowd, feeling as though no one could see us. And it’s exactly that experience that should remind us: the person next to us might be feeling the very same thing. Sometimes the greatest help isn’t a long speech or a grand solution — it’s simply one honest, caring glance.

Amonboyeva Shahnoza, student at Urgench State University, Computer Engineering

ALCHEMY OF PEACE

It is not the silence that extinguishes, but the fire that stills,

the way in which the ashes still hold the warmth of the embers.

You are the vessel where pain, poured little by little,

loses its sharp edges, becomes water that does not break.

Loss is not an abyss that swallows the light,

it is the earth turned over, deep, ready to receive.

I sowed memories like grains, not to ask for your return,

but to see what we had grow, into roots that do not die.

Here, where the river of anguish widens and slows,

I find that peace is not reaching a distant shore,

but learning to navigate even when the water moves,

taking you with me, light as the air I breathe.

We are this slow alchemy: what was, transforms,

does not disappear, changes shape, becomes part of me.

 And so, we walked together, now weightless, without farewell,

with the calm of a stone that knows how to be part of the path.

GRACIELA NOEMI VILLAVERDE is a writer and poet from Concepción del Uruguay (Entre Rios) Argentina, based in Buenos Aires She graduated in letters and is the author of seven books of poetry, awarded several times worldwide. She works as the World Manager of Educational and Social Projects of the Hispanic World Union of Writers and is the UHE World Honorary President of the same institution’s Activa de la Sade, Argentine Society of Writers. She is the Commissioner of Honor in the executive cabinet in the Educational and Social Relations Division of the UNACCC South America – Argentina Chapter.

MINUET AT MIDNIGHT

Thou art my minuet at midnight,

a primal ember, softly stirred;

the tender call of the turtledove at dawn

that gently heralds the morn.

Thou art my silence, and my trembling,

which in longing I weave into verse.

Thou art the flame of a restless body,

a fervent yearning that warms within.

Thou art the depth and essence of my soul,

long hidden from unworthy eyes.

A love awaited since days of childhood;

a tender blossom that I tend in rapture.

Woven of the same mystic substance,

in a gleam that sets each atom aflame;

fate hath bestowed us one upon the other,

in a wondrous fire that dreams of the eternal.

Milena Pčinjski, MA – Biography

Milena Pčinjski (Милена Пчињски) was born on October 28, 1986, in Prokuplje, Republic of Serbia, and currently resides in Ćuprija. She holds a Master’s degree in English Language and Literature. She is recognized as an international poet who writes in both Serbian and English. Her poetry has been published in numerous collections and anthologies of contemporary Serbian literature, as well as in international and online poetry compilations. Her poems have been translated into English, Hungarian, Russian, Romanian, Bengali, and Finnish.

She is a member of several book clubs in Serbia and regularly participates in literary events and poetry competitions. In 2025, she published her poetry collection Verses Imprisoned (Заробљени стихови). She works as an online English professor and also serves as a translator and editor for Area Felix, an international Serbian e-magazine dedicated to creative literature and culture. Additionally, she is a proofreader for the Association of Writers –SKOR, where she also serves as the President for the Pomoravlje Region.

Her collection Verses Imprisoned was awarded the Honorary Silver Diploma by the Orthodox Cultural and Artistic Almanac Arina NN in Nizhny Novgorod in 2025.

Milena is an honorary member of the International Advisory Board of the Academy of Farsala in Greece, as well as of the Global Literary Society, where she received a Certificate of Appreciation for „her excellent contribution to the Global Movement of Positive Literature” from Bhagirath Choudhary, the founder of the organization. She is currently preparing her second poetry collection.

The Fate of Uncle Mammadhasan’s Donkey

Back then, in those beautiful days,

Uncle Mammadhasan was happy, his family was happy, and his donkey was happy too.

In summer, Uncle Mammadhasan worked at a Pioneer camp.

All the Pioneer children knew his donkey.

The donkey knew them too.

It could even tell the city Pioneer children from the village children.

He took very good care of the donkey.

He bathed it in the river,

burned garma to drive away its flies.

The Pioneer children even fought with each other

for the chance to bathe the donkey.

He had convinced us that

when the donkey was bathed, it rained.

But this time it did not rain.

Bullets rained.

The fire of war flared up.

The war began.

The fire of war drove away fairness, mercy, and conscience

like flies.

Uncle Mammadhasan’s two sons became martyrs.

He settled in a remote village as a refugee.

And his donkey was stolen.

This loss burned Uncle Mammadhasan

as much as the grief for his sons.

In those years there was no natural gas in the district.

Everyone carried firewood with donkeys.

The price of a donkey had gone up;

the value of a human being had gone down.

Uncle Mammadhasan’s donkey

had been sold to firewood traders.

Every day it was under a heavy load.

There was no one who knew its suffering.

And one day it died under its load.

They did not even leave its dead body alone.

They gave it to a sausage factory.

…

These were Uncle Mammadhasan’s last days.

He was eating cheap sausage.

The railway wagon where he lived

was a source of a bad smell.

He ate sausage

at the table where he killed flies with a fly swatter.

The heat gave him no peace either.

He no longer killed flies.

He fanned himself with the fly swatter

to cool himself.

It was real torment of hell.

That donkey’s cleanliness

no longer exists in this world.

I wish I could bathe that donkey

in the river once again.

And with the water

with which I bathed that donkey,

I wish I could put out

all the fires of war.

What Do I Love

Love the poem

taciturn

love the voice

love the roots

taking space

love the crisp

turn of the phrase

importunate word

strip teasing me into

surrender,

love rainbow in your eyes;

what do I love

but barking times

of restlessness?

Ananya S Guha lives in Shillong in Northeast India. His poems have been published in both print and electronic formats, and he has been writing poetry for the last forty years. 

Two plates

And now I see you

as you go down the long corridor

and you wanted love

and you wanted to help me

because I am alone

and empty was a refrigerator

and nobody needed me

My head hurts because of me

of all ghosts

who possessed me

There was no place for you

normal and sensual.

And now I see you

as you go down the long corridor

and I want to scream

and I want to get you back

but I still close the door

because my spirit has returned

to torture me

invited

to dinner

with two plates set

and me alone…

Tanja Ajtic was born in Belgrade, Serbia. She lived and studied in Serbia. She is a poet and a writer but she is also an artist. She also deals with fine graphics. Since 2002, she lives and creates in Canada. Moved to Belgrade, Serbia 2023. Tanja Ajtic is a member of many groups and associations. In Serbia, she is a member of the prestigious Society of Writers of Belgrade. Her poems and stories have been published: two hundred collections (books), anthologies and electronic books. Her poems have been published in twelve languages.

She published a book, Outlines of Love. She participated with books and anthologies at many fairs in the world with other authors. In 2024 and 2025, Ajtic collaborated with Indian poet Sourav Sarkar on two joint poetry collections that present two works by the poet in one book. – She won second prize in Great Britain from the Serbian Library in London (2019). – She won III World Prize for Excellence ;Cesar Vallejo; 2021 in the category of artistic excellence Lima, Peru, by the World Spanish Union of Writers and International Award of Excellence; from the World Spanish Union of Writers, UHE Mexico.

She won the I International Award of Excellence “Cita Del Glateo” Antonio De Ferrariis, IX edition 2022 – Rome, Italy, a prestigious award in the group of poets for the English language (IX edition of the award for foreign poetry in English) in 2022, Rome, Italy. – Winners of Foundation Naji Naaman literary prize iz 2023; (21 st Edition), from the Republic of Lebanon, Honor Prize (for complete work) for Literary prizes 2023. Poetry for the competition was submitted in three languages: English, French and Arabic. – Winning the 2023 “Zheng Nian Cup” Literary Award – Third Prize by the Beijing Mindfulness Literature Museum, China. – Winning Third Prize, Friedrich Schiller International Literary Competition (2025). She is the winner of many awards, diplomas and certificate. She is currently writing poetry, short stories, haiku, and Gogyoshi poetry as well as freelance graphic design.

May peace awaken all across the earth,

may golden sunlight warm us, chasing clouds of gray.

We long for smiles, for freedom, joy, and hope,

let love’s true paths forever guide our way.

Let nature bloom in all her grace,

for she belongs to every heart and land.

Do not destroy the gifts she freely gives,

for she remembers all by nature’s hand,

even when your eyes can no longer see.

Let the young embrace the light of life;

let sorrow cast no shadow on their days.

Do not teach them hatred for one another,

for hatred fills the world with grief and pain.

Let children keep the wonder of their youth.

Teach them to give with love and to receive.

Every child deserves a place of peace,

a safe haven where their dreams may gently breathe,

not hands that steal their innocence away.

Offer peace to one another.

If you take this world’s bright light,

its darkness will return to you.

Be humble, grateful, cherish every breath,

for no one has the right

to imprison another’s peace.

Release each other from pain and hate,

what good have they ever done?

Peace is the gift we all are searching for.

Why turn against each other,

making this beautiful world

a kingdom built on sorrow and chains?

Long live peace.

May your hearts forever shine with light.

It takes so little,

only one sincere,

truly human embrace.

Danijela Ćuk

Croatia