Where Do People Go?

Where do people go
With all that grief
In their heart?

Where do people go
When they can’t
Handle it all?

What do people do
When the burden
On their souls gets
Too hard to carry?

Do grown men and women
Cry on bathroom floors?
Do they weep like babies?
Do they bury it deep inside?

Where do people go
When they can’t
Take it anymore?

Do young boys and girls
Mute the voices in their heads?
Do they befriend the monsters
Under the bed?

Do you turn to God?
Or
Do you get mad at God?

Where do people go
When all the doors close
And all the windows are
too high to climb?

What happens
When you find
Everything
You’ve been looking for?

What happens when
You reach
The end
Of the tunnel?

Is there light?
Or does more
Darkness follow?

What do broken men and women do
When the grief of losing a child
Doesn’t end?

What do children do
After they attend the funeral
Of their parents?

Where do people go
With all that’s broken
Inside of them?

Do they look for a solution?
Do they look for glue?
Or
Do they just learn to live broken?

How do you live
When something deep
Inside of you is shattered?

Do you smile openly?
Do you laugh heartily?
Do you cry loudly
Or do you just exist?

What do kids do
When they find out
Their parents never
Wanted them?

Do they accept it?
Do they ignore it?
Or do they spend the
Rest of their lives
In self-loathe?

What do people do
When the body count
Gets too hard to
Remember?

What do people do
When they lose count
Of funerals they
Have been to?

What do people do
When they can’t
Remember everyone
They lost along the way?

Do they prepare their souls
For more funerals?
Or do they curse themselves
For forgetting those who were lost?

Where do people go
With all the
Grief in their hearts?

Sauleh goes by the pseudonym, Chilaikalaan. He was born and raised in Srinagar, Kashmir and is currently based in Bangalore.

Featured image:  Margaret Polinder / Unsplash