Without You Poem by Samah Khan

Without you, the mundane morning clattering of the maid’s cutlery,
Is naught but senseless noise; with you, it is music-
Without you, the biting summer sun in all its glory is barely more
Than a faceless speck on the horizon; with you I dare not confuse it.
For if the kitchen sounds didn’t wake me up,
I would not wake up to you;
And if I could not make out the sun in this vast sky,
The hours we could be together would be a numbered few

Without you, humiliation is manifest, unhappiness is strenuous;
With you, awkwardness is poise and insanity is a device-
Without you, each white hair upon my head is a tragic parable,
With you, ‘tis is blessing in disguise.
For if you were not there to make my falls seem like my victories,
I would not walk straight as a plank and rigid as a soldier;
And If I could not count the white hairs on my head,
I could not tell how far together we’d grown older.

Without you each bruise, each wound, each painful thorn,
Is just what it is: pain in its many forms;
With you, they are like insignias of my conquests-
And for you I’d walk over a hundred such thorns.
For if I were to fight-I would not fight for any country
Or any nation-as you are all those and more-
I would take upon my heart all burden worth the taking,
And upon my face I would wear the scars of my valor.

Without you, each crazy happiness, each moment of surprise
Or hope-seems hopeless and without fruit;
With you, I see the day in the night and the night past its hours,
And happiness where happiness is due.
For you are that crazy happiness, that moment of surprise and hope,
You are the light at the end of the tunnel, the night when I need respite;
You are the staircase in the dark and when I drown, you are the rope
That rescues my soul when my mind and body lose the energy to fight;

Without you, my sweet, I would be but a paling shadow,
Whose shape from dawn to dusk takes rout-
But with you I am the constant North Star-yet I am so very different
And that is why I am with you and not without.