touch that motherly tender love, with your five fingers and giggle out a laugh that will last.

a lifetime.

save your sister a piece of happiness, do not be greedy. the water is yet to boil and the hands are still open. catch all your dreams before the night shines.

tell your father you wished your eyes were like his and your smile curved like his sweetheart mother. hold a flower in the left hand and a seashell in the right. listen to the sounds of love.

fall in love with a boy with dark hair and homely body. sneak out of the ajar window, you are a free bird, my child.

the dusty afternoon has not set, the sun is yet to depart. ask him to stay a while longer, tonight is going to be very long.

find the perfect dress and dance till your feet sleep and your eyes twinkle with the water of your love.

run into the sea, tell her you love her. tonight you last see the waves merge into one another like the words inside your head. tomorrow may be a long day or a gone day, watch the last sunset and bid goodbyes.

Zarnab Tufail is a trilingual, brown, eighteen-year-old student who lives in a small city by the sea and enjoys sunsets and poetry like her mother loves gold. she likes to turn everything into a sad story and takes cool photos. her work has been published on women’s republic and the bitchin’ kitsch. she tweets at @chaidoyaar and some of her work can be found here at instagram.com/zarnable