Come, What May

Written by Haiqa Mariam

The lives we play behind the mask:

who knows what secrets we conceal,

what answers we offer to those who ask,

where we abandoned our pride, unreal.

It is ironic: they see only what we show,

turning the world into a vast stage.

Behind bright smiles, strangers grow,

like characters upon an unread page.

The ones who shine with radiant light

are often consumed by untamed pain;

the children whose eyes once gleamed so bright

now bear a heart imprinted with stain.

How long can we sustain a heart of stone?

How long can we blame others when the foe is our own?

How long must we battle this rage unknown?

How long persist in this endless low?

Yet even when the heart seems near its end,

another page turns, another chapter begins.

What it holds—calamity or contentment—

only the Lord knows what fate intends.

Still, with hardship comes a promised ease,

and where faith endures, triumph is near.

So what is austerity, when at last we seize

a victory etched beyond all fear?