E M P T Y by Abdullah Shahood

The empty roads, the empty corridors, I walked with my feet automatically guiding to my destination.

My head down, my eyes empty.

They had no reason to be full of life.

It was sucked out of them.

The roads once full of cheerful people whose laughter and joy was infectious, were now empty.

Filled with people who were dead or slowly dying from the inside.

They didn’t know how to fix it; they didn’t know how to fix themselves because they weren’t ever taught how to.

They weren’t taught how to pick up the broken glass and admire the beauty it reflected.

They weren’t taught how to appreciate themselves.

Although they were taught how the exponential function worked, and we were naive that we sat and learned that, instead of learning what could allow us to stand up if we ever fell.

We weren’t told how to stand up; after we were pushed down; after we tripped on our own two feet; after we were too tired to continue.

So that is why the roads were lit; the roads were crowded.

The corridors jam-packed.

But the people had no presence.

They had lost Everything.

They had given up because they couldn’t stand up no matter how hard they tried.

We gave up after we gave our everything.

Because we didn’t know ‘standing after the fall’ existed.

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Stuck in quarantine, with thoughts all over the place. Abdullah Shahood is a student of AS-W (Wisdom) who has been expressive of the impact the pandemic has or the impact it will have. Abdullah is a keen writer, but you’ll also find him posting photos on social media, giving us an insight into what brews in his mind as he wanders the empty corridors during the quarantine.

His work ” E m p t y” is inspired by the roads which were empty. It is inspired by the people who knew all about life but didn’t know how to live it. It’s inspired by those who knew every formula in the book but didn’t know how to stand for themselves. Abdullah also dabs in the arts of photography, and you can follow him at:
https://www.instagram.com/ascaptures09/ 

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Cover Photo by Abdullah Shahood