The Space Between

Dana Mirghani

there is a silence
between breaths / like waiting
for my body to name itself

an ache / & it lives here
under my skin / where my question has no language
no answer / just the breath
always the breath

I stand / at the edge of myself
one foot in what I know
the other hovering / over a country I've never seen

there is a border between the two
& it lives in the mouth
of my mother / in the songs she never sang
that have haunted / my dreams

here / I am no longer the girl
not yet / a woman either
I am the tear I almost cried
I am waiting / for a word
I can carry in the mouth

this is where the world splits
like the seam / on my favorite dress
here is where my name becomes too heavy
where I learn / that the pause is everything
where I find myself / & lose myself
all at once.