The Anatomy of Dawn by Saleha Najeeb

One Poem Only · Jan 17, 2026 · 2m

The Anatomy of DawnSaleha NajeebDo not mistake the smile for light.It is merely how we hide the mourningof what never had a funeral.Grief, it does not arrive or leave,it resides,like a second pulse beneath the one we claim to feel.I have carried it, you knowthe quiet dissonance of appearing alivewhile the soul rehearses its own absence.There are days I speak,but every word drips through a sieve of silence,and you, perhaps,know this kind of breathing too.Yet, even stillness grows restless.Even darkness remembers the shape of dawn.So I begannot running,but returningto the small certainties I…