Empty Frame

Dania Altayeb is the writer of the following poem and painting:

I’m an empty frame,

Left in the corner of your bedroom floor

I sit there, as passionate as a romantic novel

Waiting for you to touch me

To stain my pages with your blue fingerprints

To swallow me with the sound of your breaths

To ruin me with the flow of your heartbeat

To make me feel noticed, needed

Only for you to walk away

A few days later

And introduce me again to my loneliness

To my hollow stomach

Leaving me waiting

For the next time you say

Hello

And the next time you say

Goodbye

I’m an empty frame,

Left in the corner of your bedroom floor

I sit there, as silent as a graveyard

Waiting for you to visit

To enfold me with the sound of your crying

To soak me with your glistening tears

To one more time, save me from my decay

To make me feel noticed, needed

Only for you to turn back

A few minutes later