CAN YOU SEE

Can you See 

Can you see, can you see  can you hear, will you listen 

Can you see us Pakistani women

Can you see these women that are just not seen

Standing in front of you, but you just see a blank sheet

A question mark that you don’t quite understand 

Because these women migrated from a different Mother Land

They are clothed in light, in rays of pure heavenly wisdom 

Stories of life experience, that will never fit into a heartless system

They are the heartbeat that lives in the community, that beats along

Cobbled streets and flows into houses where families meet and greet 

and families in time of love and loss is everything 

They are the sweet fragrance of spring and the gentle loving arms 

That only a mother can bring

Where stories are confined between the walls of their chest

Because grieving seems like it's forbidden after death 

Losing their loved ones is more than life’s challenging test 

That one day we will all leave to meet our creator 

And the silence that is left is too much to bear 

Yet grateful are they for the grief that they share 

When the communities come together

When their tears rest upon their scarves 

And grief is welcomed with open arms 

From their loved ones, from their neighbours

Help granted by the community strangers

Because in death they grieve as mountains

serving protection to their rainforest and trees 

Collectively together, roots standing strong

Knowing that in death the path ahead is lonely and long 

But right now, together, together feels strong 

And there is a period of time when they face this pain alone 

Because the support at the time of death is only shown

For a short period of time and then it’s their grief alone

And the silence hits, and the waves of the wind 

Rests heavy upon their hearts 

and it's not just the grief that wraps around their whole being

its the financial difficulties when their loved ones depart 

So now they are not only feeling the loss of their heart 

Their children have to stop education to keep them alive too

And no one sees how the loss of a loved one truly destroys you 

And there are places that want to listen, and they deeply want to be heard too 

Like they are offered free services of support but without money in 

Their pockets to access these services, whose profits from the support being offered 

who are they actually supporting 

After the loss of a loved one, these women clothed in spring 

Feel like the whole world is ignoring their pain

and the seasons that change, grief with them

The Autumn leaves are a reminder, that when they wither and fall from the trees

They too will be reborn again in spring 

Hope is always seeing things through Allah's offering

Religion in death and bereavement is everything 

For who listens in their silence, in their pain

When darkness falls and they are alone again 

In God they seek comfort and comfort he brings 

But who other than God is truly listening 

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(c) Sharena Lee Satti

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