The Dark is All Around You
by Lisa Suhair Majaj
The dark is all around you
the stars blink warily
the moon’s a leaky rowboat
it will not take you home
the stars blink warily
the night is steep with waves
it will not take you home
you will not find a shore
the night is steep with waves
your courage has not left you
you will not find a shore
and still you travel on
your courage has not left you
you find your path alone
and still you travel on
the moon has left the sky
you find your path alone
your grief walks close beside
the moon has left the sky
the stars are almost gone
your grief walks close beside
this helps you find the way
the stars are almost gone
a hint of dawn is breaking
this helps you find the way
the moon’s a leaky rowboat
a hint of dawn is breaking
the dark is all around you
the stars blink warily
the moon’s a leaky rowboat
it will not take you home
the stars blink warily
the night is steep with waves
it will not take you home
you will not find a shore
the night is steep with waves
your courage has not left you
you will not find a shore
and still you travel on
your courage has not left you
you find your path alone
and still you travel on
the moon has left the sky
you find your path alone
your grief walks close beside
the moon has left the sky
the stars are almost gone
your grief walks close beside
this helps you find the way
the stars are almost gone
a hint of dawn is breaking
this helps you find the way
the moon’s a leaky rowboat
a hint of dawn is breaking
the dark is all around you
Lisa Suhair Majaj, is author of Geographies of Light (Del Sol Press Poetry Prize), poems and essays in many journals and anthologies, and two children's books. She is a scholar of Arab-American literature and co-editor of three volumes of critical essays on Arab and Arab American writers. Her poetry has been translated into several languages. Her work was included in the 2016 exhibition Aftermath: The Fallout of War—America and the Middle East (Harn Museum of Art). She lives in Cyprus.