AMATORY: "HELD UNHELD" BY ABDULMALIK YAHYA

Will I fade in the mystical myth
of found but lost?
Lost to the purest lust
of have, but not.

Will my heavy eyes fall,
searching for you
in depths of blue,
drowned by the loudest silence
it ever knew?

Will hope call my name
or stay the same
in a game stitched
to the helm of may?

Will hope kneel low
or pass me still,
like a votive flame
with no will?

Will wanting rot before it blooms,
and teach my hands
the art of rooms.
When absence sits like sacred proof,
what love can hunger
without a tooth?

I pray in want,
I fast in need,
chew holy absence like a creed.

Let love not waste,
let it save,
like a wound I worship…
wide awake.

If I am kept,
if I am held,
like a borrowed soul,
solace my find.

Know some truths refuse to stay,
some arrivals
aren’t ways to stray.

Will I fade in the mystical myth
of found yet lost,
lost to the purest lust
of have, yet not?

©️ ABDULMALIK YAHYA (The Punsmith)

-Nigeria

The poem _Held Unheld_ is a poignant exploration of love, longing, and existential uncertainty. The speaker grapples with the fear of being lost in love's paradox ("found but lost") and the ache of potential abandonment. Through mystical imagery and rhetorical questions, they probe the nature of love, hope, and absence. The poem's tone is introspective and prayer-like ("I pray in want, I fast in need"), ending with a plea for love to "save" and "solace my find". The speaker's emotional vulnerability and spiritual seeking are palpable.