Sameen Shakya
In a dark, damp cave, the savage is crying, alone.
Why? Who knows? Not even the savage, I suppose.
But he is crying, this he knows, and his shouts and cries
bounce from one wall to the next. And the next.
There’s a hollow space in my chest where a voice whispers
all the unseemly things I don’t want to believe.
Sharp and terrible things that cut my sanity.
All the unseemly things I hope are not true,
but I can’t shake the feeling that they are.
In the dark, damp cave that is my heart,
my savage is crying. Why? Who knows?
Not even the savage, I suppose. But I understand.
Most days I even join in, and our tears mingle.
Our cries and shouts bounce from one end of the cave to the next.
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[Sameen Shakya’s poems have been published in Alternate Route, Cosmic Daffodil, Hearth and Coffin, Roi Faineant and Thin Veil Press, to name a few. Born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, he moved to the USA in 2015 to pursue writing. He earned an Undergraduate Degree in Creative Writing from St Cloud State University and traveled the country for a couple of years to gain a more informal education. He returned to Kathmandu in 2022 and is currently based there.]
