LEAVING EGYPT

by Taleen Omer

The airport hums with departures,

And I stand still,

Watching a part of my life, 

The streets, alive with voices,

The long dinners that stretch into laughter,

The cousins who feel like extensions of myself are all being folded away.

Hugs at the gate feel desperate,

As if holding tighter might keep me here.

But I can’t stay.

Minnesota waits, my other life,

The one with colder air and quieter nights.

By the time I return, 

My cousins will be taller, 

My grandmother slower.

The house will feel the same,

But different,

Like a dream remembered.

I carry the noise, the warmth, 

The memories tucked in my bag.

They’ll have to be enough,

To fill the silence until next time.

Taleen Omer is a sophomore at Century High School.