Season 1 · Episode 265
A Merciless Winter by Farida Shamim
One Poem Only · Maggie Devers
January 20, 20262m 6s
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Show Notes
A Merciless Winter
Farida Shamim
How cruel you are, Winter —
couldn’t you wait a little longer?
Why didn’t you wait
until the children fell asleep,
their dreams unbroken,
their bellies not empty?
My little ones lie down hungry,
and now —
how could I cover them,
how could I protect them
from your harsh, merciless air?
Can’t you see —
we can no longer see tomorrow
we can’t even weep.
Our tears have turned to salt,
our hearts to smoke.
Can’t you feel
the pain we endure?
Couldn’t you wait
until the sun of faith rose again
to touch the faces
that still believe in warmth?
How cruel you are, Winter —
to come when we are already cold.
Mentioned in this episode:
Write After: National Poetry Month with One Poem Only
Write After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice. We'll get started in April. You can share to #WriteAfterOPO.