Ebtisam Fakhro sent

The Year Before Last

The holiday season is approaching,

and with it comes the New Year.

Although for me time passes slowly,

New Year's Day will ring in quickly.

I dread this New Year's Day

because they will look at me

in a terribly strange way

when I get misty-eyed,

and talk about something you had done.

After you first left me,

they reasoned when I cried,

"He's only been gone a few months."

And I would catch that look

of understanding in their eyes,

and found some comfort that they knew.

But on last New Year's Day,

my first thought upon awakening was,

Oh God, my loved one died last year,

not just a few months ago,

not even this year,but last year.

He will never live in this year.

They didn't understand, they didn't reason,

that last year, for me, the loss was still new.

They thought, "It happened last year,

so long ago, why does she still cry?"

I could see it in their eyes.

This New Year's Day, will it be different?

Will my first thought upon awakening be,

Oh God, my loved one died the year before last,

not a few months ago, not this year or even last year,

but the year before last?

He will never live in this year.

Will they even listen, should I not look them

in the eyes, for fear that I shall see,

"Why is she still crying? It happened so long ago.

It was the year before last."

Those words that we use

to describe the passage of time,

a few months, this year,

last year, the year before last.

They don't know that time stands still for me.

Will they understand that's why I cry?

Don't they know

my loved one just died ...

the year before last?

Author Unknown