22% of the book — free to read
Even The Moon Left Me
Asra Amjad
***
Daastan Publishing 2025
First Published in Pakistan by Daastan PVT LTD
House # A-41, Madni Street, Lala Rukh, Wah Cantt, Punjab 47040
Text copyrights © Asra Amjad
Book Design Copyright ©
The moral rights of the writer, illustrator, and editor have been asserted.
All rights reserved
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or distributed in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
ISBN 978-627-526-060-8 (Print)
ISBN 978-627-526-061-5 (Ebook)
******
to the moon that left,
thank you.
your absence taught me how to rise.
for the ones who stayed,
even in silence.
for the version of me who didn’t think she’d survive it.
and for the girl who loved,
again and again,
even when the night didn’t end.
****
Table of Contents
PART I: BEFORE THE BREAKING.. 2
before i knew who i was, i knew i was wrong, not because anyone said it, but because no one did. i was a girl with a loud heart and quiet hands, carrying desires that did not yet know how to name themselves. i learned early how to live inside moments too tender for the world, where shame came dressed as silence, and wanting was something you folded away carefully. this is where it began, not with a scream, but with a swallowed sentence. girlhood for me was a performance, and somewhere beneath the applause, i was already breaking.
PART I: BEFORE THE BREAKING
the good girl
i was the one
who never asked for more
even when i needed it most
i cleaned the table
while my brother watched cartoons
folded my silence
into every napkin i set
they said
i was a good girl
and i wanted to ask
what if i’m not?
what i couldn’t say
in class,
i stared too long
at the girl with honeyed wrists
her braid
held the sun better than mine
and her laugh
sounded like home
when she smiled at me
i forgot how to breathe
but said nothing.
because what do you call love
when you’re eight
and it’s the wrong kind?
playground
i was never
picked first
or last —
i hovered
on the edge
too soft to push
too quiet to shout
i stayed
where the dust didn’t rise
watching
everyone else
be loud without consequence
pious
they said
if i cover
if i pray
if i behave
i will be saved
so i prayed
and i covered
and i behaved
but no one said
what to do
with the feelings
that still didn’t leave
her notebook
she let me
borrow her markers
and i fell in love
right there
watching her scribble hearts
on the corner of her math page
i copied them
later that night
inside my diary
as if they belonged to me
amma never asked
amma asked
if i had enough food
if i folded the laundry
if i said my prayers
but she never asked
why i sat too close
to the girl with moon eyes
or why i smiled
at her voice
like it knew a secret
wrong kind of love
there are loves
they celebrate in movies
with popcorn
and happy tears
and then there are loves
you bury
under your mattress
with the poems
you can’t read aloud
fear
i thought god
could hear
the way my heart
jumped
when she brushed past me
so i began
saying holy verses
after every smile
like an eraser
could fix
a thing i didn’t choose
language
there wasn’t a word
That’s the end of the free sample
You have read 22% of Even the moon left me - poetry book about love. The full e-book picks up right where this stopped.
- Unlocks the moment your payment clears
- Reads in any browser — nothing to install
- Asra Amjad earns a royalty on every copy
Login with Google
