I Stayed

where I needed to be

where the faith finds you there’s no way escape

I spoke a verse, just one,

and spoke it long, undone. The one I wanted most stayed with me least of all. I used to think, I believed — if she stays, my needs are eased. But she taught me otherwise: here, no one stays for anyone. When I understood this truth, I fell silent, long and still. I thought — if I must stay now, then on whom should I remain? So I stayed on Him alone — the One who’s stayed on none. And staying there, I came to know just who He truly was. Then I understood as well who I was, who stayed on Him. And at last, when I had known, when I had made peace with it — after that, till Judgment Day, I stayed — and I stayed silent.