When you say you’re leaving, nobody says “wait!”. Nobody tells you about the deep breaths that will begin each morning or the cold moving beyond your bones to wrap its fists around your heart so you forget to need hugs.
When they offer to drop you off at the airport bag in hand. Nobody pulls you aside and presses prayers into your palms for the nights you go hungry. Nobody says to leave your dreams here so they are safe.
Nobody tells you your first language is your last. That of all things you forget, the most important one will be your name, as it morphs to a sound you barely recognize.
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