Featured poet

Echoes of Absence

They walked away, leaving echoes behind,

as if the soul was torn from its bind.

Eyes cling to emptiness, asking why,

searching the silence for a last goodbye.

The night grows longer when the beloved is gone,

and silence screams where the heart belongs.

Each memory opens a wound anew,

each dream dissolves into shadows too.

I hear their voice carried by the breeze,

a promise unfinished, a whisper that frees.

I reach for them, but find only air,

and weep like a child who lost all care.

Death does not steal the body alone,

it leaves the heart without a home.

It teaches that love will never decay,

yet leaves us grieving day by day.

Beloved, though gone, your trace remains,

like perfume lingering where silence reigns.

We carry your names in every prayer,

until we meet where no pain is there.

BIO

Shams Mazen Rajab is a 23‑year‑old writer, translator, poet, and essayist from Gaza. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Teaching Methods from Al‑Aqsa University in Gaza, and has also completed a Continuing Education Certificate in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Awareness through online study at University College Cork, Ireland. Through her bilingual writing she seeks to preserve memory and build bridges across cultures. Her work has been published internationally, and she is committed to using literature and translation as tools of resilience, dialogue, and empowerment, especially for marginalized communities. Shams’s creative mission is to make language accessible across borders and to preserve collective memory through words.