Ahmed Al-Sheikh: The Pretence

The cruelest of all pretences  

is to make those around me believe that everything is fine,  

when in truth I am not well...  

Yet I have mastered the role of the stoic,  

just as a corpse is adept at feigning sleep,  

whilst I wither away like a thistle in barren soil  

that bears no fruit.  

I smooth my features every morning so my brokenness is not revealed,  

and I arrange my silence carefully so my pain does not slip out.