Tearful Souls Poem by Sami Gjoka

There I stood behind the trunk of a hollow olive tree,
Staring at an old woman from my town,
Thinking that she is alone, and nobody’s around
She was crying for her losses,
With verses full of mourning
And she was loud.

Being where I shouldn’t be,
I felt broken, ripped, and torn,
Scared to move, and run and flee,
And to even stick along.

How could I make a noise,
That could bring humility
To her troubled, haunted soul?

I held fingers in my fist
Till my nails cut through my skin
But why is there a breeze
Flashing sun through moving leaves?

I begged God to snatch the sun
From the sky and seize its beams.
Stop the breeze and freeze the leaves
I could hold just everything
But I couldn’t stop my sneeze.

And she turned so pale, so slim
Pulled her apron from her knees
Looked at me and said nothing,
Trying to wipe her tears.