When I’m gone
Search for me in streams
Coming down hills
Over dark, mossy rocks
Through the flat clear puddles
Where sand has gathered
Under and over fallen trees
And on shiny pebbles
And slippery slabs
I’ll be the splash doing the river dance
Twirling in a ballroom of dervish circles
Before doing the cha cha cha and merging into the next splosh of water
Rising up again to the bhangra
Playing the bansri
Listening to the guitar
Sat on the piano
Watching the drummer
With a bubble under my chin for a palm
I’ll never be the drip drip drip
Coming down under the waterfall
I’ll always be the wave that bungee jumps head first, arms out, mouth open and eyes wide
I’ll enter the water calm and let it cuddle me
Lie on my back and kick my way steadily down stream
And when I join a river and the salmon fly up past me, I’ll blow one a kiss and watch it turn 360 degrees as it laughs in surprise
I’ll wave it goodbye as it heads home and I head for mine
And when I’m all mature and grown I’ll finally accept that I am more than me and nothing at all
And find the grace to give myself and submit forever to the ocean
Don’t search for me when I’m gone
I’ll always be with you
As you will be with me forever
One day we’ll have to accept
Ocean, vapour, rain, stream, river
We are all just parts of one
A selected review of Nabeela’s book
I loved every moment of this book, what a treat to be transported into the lives of these wonderful characters. I’m not normally a big fan of romance novels but this was so beautifully crafted that I couldn’t help be drawn in! The characters sparkle on the page and you can feel the warmth of Nabeela’s words and also her cheeky sense of humour coming through in every line. I loved the multi generational love stories and how they all tied together, it was a total page turner from start to finish. If I had one criticism it was that I wanted it to be longer! I could’ve spent way more time in the company of these brilliant characters. Highly recommended, I look forward to reading more from this talented writer.-helen bosworth VIA amazon
Nabeela Ahmed is a writer, storyteller, multilingual poet, and spoken word artist. She writes and shares her work in English, Urdu, and Pahari. Her poetry was the main feature of the Keighley Arts and Film Festival in 2020. She has had poems published in England, America, Pakistan, and India. She self-published her book, Despite our Differences via Amazon in 2018 and is currently working on her novel.
