Ask yourself

When the dawn shifts to dusk and everything is quiet on the frontier,

Ask yourself if it is necessary to burn like the sunlight in the misty morning.

In the dew—you get wet without any signs of overpowering  heavy rain,

Without any reason.

Ask yourself if you need to show each and every parts of yourself to the world

that doesn't care,

That doesn't care about your well-being,

Your life, visions and contributions,

Or, your emotions.

All the social goods that you do for people while you are simply breathing,

Your simple existence had made so many differences,

But, people do not care,

The world doesn't care how much it took from you,

Your smile, Your passion, 

Your strength, your happiness.

Ask yourself when you don't feel the urge to connect or showcase anything to the world,

Would you live or act the same?

How many people are you connecting with, actually by exposing yourself?

People only admires the exterior,

They don't see the grind nor the loneliness,

People only connects with your success,

But, not with the strength that you quietly build after decades of survival.

But the tragic part of the world is,

After all the storms you have survived, 

When you stand tall and strong,

People don't let you live.

Because, you shine too bright for the eyes that can't tolerate light,

Who can't stand honesty,

Who don't understand depth and funerals.

They don't know or even care how many funerals your soul has witnessed, 

The mental funerals of bygones,

Of yourself, 

How many times you've died to survive till the day, 

How many times you've worn black cloak.

Ask yourself, if all the illusions are shattered,

Who are you, if you don't have the urge to show people?

Show who you are,

How you survived,

What you do,

How happy or sad you are,

How you have attained inner peace,

What social standing and gains you have,

After all the ups and downs,

How you have surpassed the shadows within you and others,

How you have built a fortress of quiet and serenity,

And, when you no longer need social validation?

What happens when you hide yourself completely,

Entirely from the world that now influences by over exposures?

Privacy is a wealth now in the over exposed world that tends to consume your well-being,

Devour your peace and inner strength,

Calmness and fortune,

Bliss of beauty,

Love and genuine admirations,

The honour you've built brick by brick,

Layer by layers,

You might lose everything in the whims of evil eyes,

You protect what they can't see,

You preserve your peace in the burning world.

You are now starving those who peeks...

No explanations,

No exposures,

No validations,

No attentions,

Because, at the end of the day nothing of these matters.

Their attention is superficial, based on interests,

Their admiration is masked by jealousy ,

Their love is actually a desire of possession,

Love that comes with the conditioning of control,

is not love but manipulation.

And, when the dawn returns after the cruel night,

You remember there was no savior except you,

Nobody came to save you or ask you how you had been,

How you are doing.....!

How you faced all the barriers.

When the final illusions shatters,

Of hope, of longing for connections,

You then understand nobody connects with you,

They just want your exposure,

They enjoy what they see,

What they hear and read about you,

They enjoy your downfall more than your rise,

And, sometimes your rising cancels their views.

Surprises the jealous spirits- how could you come this far?

How did you survive the storms that would drench them in fear?

Ask yourself,

If there is no urge and necessity for exposure,

How would you preserve your sense of being?  Your existence? 

Would you seek power?

Or, feel the necessity to control or exercise power?

Punish people?

Punish yourself for being too honest and having a strong sense of self?!

High awareness?

Ask yourself,

If there were no existential crisis, 

Would you want to entangle yourself with power struggles?

Would you seek fame and chase attention?

Would you flex what you have? 

Would you mind what others think of you?!

How differently would you act if there were no need for external validations?

Would you be the 'You' that you 'Show'!?

Ask yourself,

What would you do if there were no platform for intensified performativity for you to display?

Would you lie low or go slow?

Or, remain just present in the omnipresent world that demands you go solo?

Yet, you hustle in the bustling world,

You collaborate with the chaos,

You remain unseen, unrecognizable if you don't do so,

You lose yourself when you overdo,

Selective visibility is a weapon now,

It might save you,

Oh, you mistook exposure with connectivity,

Most of them never value!

 

©® Farheen Akter Bhuian Nancy 

Time Frame: 4.20 pm, Tagar Building.