by Shakiba Hashemi

My mother read me bedtime stories at night.
As the moon passed over the blanket of sky
and the clouds gently parted,
I sat on my bed,
in communion with the stars.
She read stories with happy endings:
Aladdin and the Magic Lamp,
The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods
and The Little Prince visiting asteroids.
Then she said a prayer
for me to sleep well,
for war to end
and for my dad
to come home soon.
She kissed my trembling eyelids
as I puckered my lips
to stop the words “don’t go”
from bursting out.
She said good night
and turned off the light.
My hands unfolded like sacred psalms
in the dark.

“This poem was inspired by the memories of my childhood growing up in Iran during the Iraq and Iran war. ‘Once Upon a Time’ tells the timeless story of children whose lives are forever changed due to the atrocities of war.” —Shakiba Hashemi

Shakiba Hashemi is an Iranian-American poet, painter and teacher living in Southern California. She is a bilingual poet, and writes in English and Farsi. She holds a BFA in Drawing and Painting from Laguna College of Art and Design. Her work is forthcoming or has appeared in Atlanta Review, Tipton Poetry Journal, Ibbetson Street Magazine, The Indianapolis Review, I-70 Review, Cream City Review, The Summerset Review, Roanoke Review, 3rd Wednesday, and the New York Quarterly Anthology Without a Doubt: Poems Illuminating Faith.

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