2025 Barrett Winner
3rd Place Mariam Sofyan
They speak of blessings, of futures written,
voices steady, unshaken by doubt.
Hands are shaken, prayers are whispered,
but none carry the name I once longed for.
Gold does not rest on my hands,
there is no ring, no touch, no glance.
Only a decision, made in quiet rooms,
sealed by words I did not say.
I sit among them, listening, nodding,
a daughter, a bride-to-be.
Yet between their voices, in the silence between,
your memory remains—uninvited, unforgotten.
They tell me this is fate, that hearts will follow,
that love will grow where it is planted.
But what of love that was never uprooted?
What of a heart that still beats elsewhere?
If fate had paused, if time had bent,
would I have stood where you are now?
Or was I always meant to sit here,
silent, unseen, longing for what is no longer mine?