It was 2 at midnight

I woke up

for the cold of that january night

and to the candle melting

by the windowsill

and the book I was reading

with some pages folded. 

I went out to pick up the book

and put it in the shelf

Reluctant to walk

I somehow reached the shelf

when I kept the book

besides the glass

half empty

half filled

filled of water

and a rose in it

the pink rose 

I started to walk to my bed

when the wind pushed the door open

and a blow of wind, so cold

gave me goosebumps

from head to toe

I grabbed my mother's knitted shawl

and tied my hair into a bun

and went out to the little room

with a wall full of open windows

each window beating against another

scaring me with the noise

I caught hold of one 

and went to close it

when I saw a girl in the lawn

of my house 

her hair set free 

in the wind

She was holding two papers

dipped in wine 

they had turned pink

I could not read them

but I saw a crease

as if they were folded

When I  looked at her again

she smiled and screamed

waving those two pages

'The answer lies here'

tears trickling down her face

she screamed

My hair opened up 

and started to cover my eyes

I could see her one moment

the hair flew all over my face

and the next moment

she was walking away

not looking back

I screamed to her

to scream to me 

the answer she read

She did ot look back

I put my hair behind my ear

and ran towards my shelf

my shawl fell off me

and flew out of the window

but I did not look back to it

I reached the shelf and found 

those two pages I folded

in all water

from the glass half filled

It erased everything written

unlike the wine

the rose was torn

into pieces

I picked up a petal

and the pages

took them near the melting candle 

trying to dry them up

and read something of everything she said

I couldn't. 

I stayed up as much as I could

I fell asleep crying 

and I woke up

the next morning

I woke up to a grey sky

no winds

petals crushed

paper torn

I went out to the room of windows

saw my shawl

in the lawn

covered in dirt

with something kept besides it. 

It was a glass of wine

half filled

~Shafaq Shahid