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Tamseel Zehra Poem
Life's not all ticks and crosses
Take a moment when the world pauses
You may not succeed in all that you do
But even the best face challenges too
Just remember you tried your best
So take a moment to breathe and rest
Copyright © Tamseel Zehra | Year Posted 2025
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Tamseel Zehra Poem
Existence is like waiting for something to happen
But what if I wait and wait and wait and boom!
Nothing happens?
Do I have the right to say I exist?
Is there even the concept of rights,
In an ocean where there seemingly is no end?
Where there is not up nor down
And if the ocean is all around me and within
Am I drowning in the so-called existence?
To exist is to participate in reality
But if I’m drowning in a void that forbids any breath
If my presence is as invisible as air
And my screams are met with a silence like death
Am I existing or am I just…there?
To exist is to take up time
But what if its seemingly endless?
Does time ever have an end?
And if it ever ends, and I along with it,
does that mean I ever existed?
If I’ve led a life of happiness or sorrow,
Does it truly matter if there is no morrow?
Inevitable like the visit of Thanatos
If it all comes crashing down like waves at sea
Was there ever an existence of me?
Copyright © Tamseel Zehra | Year Posted 2025
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Tamseel Zehra Poem
I wish I knew how to quit you
I wish leaving were simple
like turning towards the door
and not looking back
but when I reach for courage
it lets go
but you don’t
I need to let you go
it’s not a want
it’s a need
I hate you
I still want you
let me go
I don’t want you
I need you
I shouldn’t
Quitting you
it should be easy
it’s said to be easy
I wish it were easy
you don’t make it easy
but for some reason it’s
alluring because maybe
just maybe
you need me and
that doesn’t make it easy
you tug my leash
close enough to follow,
far enough to hunger
And it’s painful
leaving you hurts like
every step farther I take is
a whip
leaving marks I pretend not to see
I can’t help but look
and remember how much easier
it is to stay and
how foolish I am for leaving so
I come back but
you make me feel stupid again
why do you make me feel this way
each step away I take
I step back two more
I don’t know how to quit you
Copyright © Tamseel Zehra | Year Posted 2026
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Tamseel Zehra Poem
I see the students of OLSH College, whispering and wondering
Some look lifeless, drained dry of will
Some looked scared, struggling still
I see them travel from grass to concrete
Daring not to cross the street
I see the leaves, the trash, the dirt
Feeling unwanted, discarded and hurt
I see a magpie, flying so free
At OLSH College, I see
I hear the bustling of OLSH College, trying to wrap up the day,
The scraping of chairs, the screeching of doors and footsteps of students who stray
I hear the wind whooshing past my ear
The magpie cawing, brazen, without fear
I hear pencils cry as they slave away
Sharpeners scream as they are forced to slay
Yet I hear the laughter of happy students
Bribed with games and chocolate presents
Satisfied and satiated, I listen as they cheer
At OLSH College, I hear
I smell the odour of OLSH College, sweat slipping slowly under the sweltering summer sun
Perfume masked the onion-like smell with flowers and freshness in one
But nothing beats the intoxicatingly tangy lemon tree
And the pleasant sweetness of the Azalea Charlie
And yet I am lulled into the canteen
Of chocolates treats sickeningly sweet
My nose leads me to the scent as I beg my stomach to quell
At OLSH College, I smell
I feel the bricks of OLSH College, each with its own story to tell
Hard and brittle the bricks are underneath
The peeling white paint that hides beneath
The dreary posters smooth to the touch
Of plastic and paper rough
But just outside the cool windowpanes
Wet, little droplets race down as it rains
Swift glances at those blotches I steal
At OLSH College, I feel
I taste the bitterness of OLSH College, of teachers and students alike
Unmotivated girls, not ready for the world
Eating their lunches with delight
It seemed the bribes they had been given
Of sticky gummies red and blue
Had not changed their minds, to gossip they were smitten
Oh, teachers don’t you wish they were chewing glue!
Yet I am putrid green, brimmed with envy
My stomach has gone on a one-month vacation
I wish I were a magpie, eating for free
I would take left and right at slightest invitation
Dear Ramadan, please make haste
At OLSH College, I taste
Copyright © Tamseel Zehra | Year Posted 2025
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Tamseel Zehra Poem
They took me from the home I knew
A devil’s hand, treacherous and unseen
Like a soul ripped out of the body
These are crimes so obscene
My family was my anchor
even in the roughest storm
Yet the days coming to be
A waking nightmare, I warn
We were separated from my Tatte
Alone were my Mamme and me
Slipping through our fingers
Left only were his memory and desperate plea
My breath stolen from the depths of my lungs
My roots roughly ripped from the earth
Weeds named Nazi spread like a cancerous tumour
Destroying me, deciding my worth
Deaf to my heart-wrenching cries
Unflinching, cold-hearted, callous and cruel
Uncontrollable waterfalls that were my eyes
Helpless to his absolute rule
Stripped and undressed in the merciless hands of winter
Stuttering and stumbling, skin to skin
“Dusche” they said, lying through their teeth
One step at a time, we had to go in
Commotion stirred, men nearby yelled
They refused to be herded like lowly cattle
‘BANG’, crimson, red blood oozed around the stiff body
This was war, not some mere battle
In the midst of raging terror and chaos
My Mamme pushed me, hands tremoring
“Antloyfn” she urged yet my feet were stuck in cement
My mind was a scrap yard in all the clamouring
And yet I ran into the deep, dark welcoming forest
Not stopping until my body screamed no more
Looking back, I took peeks from the dense forest bushes
My body hugging the rough forest floor
I was a bird finally out of its cage
A dog finally free of its leash
I peeked back at my open cage
Awaiting what horrors might unleash
Heavy steps one by one dragging across
Back in line like obedient, terrified animals
Into the shower they had gone
Tired and worn like in asphodel
Footsteps never came out
Cries of horror and fear were just a memory
Still ringing in my ears
My Mamme was gone, together we will never be
Time runs past like a tortoise
Each second hammers into my heart
My Mamme was gone forever more
I had escaped but now we were apart
My chest tightens with grief and yet
I had survived
I had survived
I had survived…?
After all that has happened,
History is like a broken record
A mistake made once is quite alright
Twice is stupidity of your own accord
Take in my lesson, my horrors, my nightmares
I hope you have learned from this story of mine
Be the difference, make a change
Don’t let history repeat, free Palestine
Copyright © Tamseel Zehra | Year Posted 2025
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