If there is one language common to the world, it is the language of affection. Attractions swells, sex sells, motherhood tears the body apart, nostalgia seeps into the soul, heartbreak reverberates in the thrum of our blood as humans continue to love and lose. I’ve been trying to encapsulate those affections that different languages across the world express, through a myriad of stunning words. Sensations of love, lust and loss are fleeting through the course of our lives and yet forever, as we grow into the people we are meant to be. Eternal. So here it is – a series of poetry that captures affection in every syllable and word.

Dictionary of Affections is The Zoya Project language, common to the world…

ECCEDENTESIAST

‘someone who hides pain behind a smile’

We tell ourselves to hide.
Hide
From the pain
And the stares
Of people.
Who can’t seem to turn their eyes away
From the gaping wounds
That are torn through my heart
Staining my soul
With the crimsoned black
Of dried blood.
Hide.
Hide
From the whispers
And the pitiful looks
They give me
Hoping I’ll sew back the seams
Of your skin
So my naked soul
Won’t lie wanton
In all her glory
For all to look upon.
Hide.
Hide
The pain behind
The 43 muscles
It takes to smile.
For it is hard for them to understand
That wounds stapled together
Will bleed
From staple holes too.