The village baked in golden light,
A hum of life, both warm and bright.
The streets, of clay and winding stone,
Held laughter like a whispered tone.
The children played, a joyful sound,
On hallowed, safe, and sunlit ground.
But with the dusk, a silent thing,
A shadow on a whispered wing,
Bouchkara came, a figure dread,
A ghostly sack upon his head.
The white chkara, stained and old,
Held secrets that were yet untold.
And as he drifted, slow and deep,
The village fell to haunted sleep.
The fading sun, the playful hum,
All fell to darkness, cold and numb.
He didn’t take one child alone,
He claimed them all, from flesh to bone.
They didn’t scream or try to run,
They melted with the setting sun.
Their fleeting forms, their happy souls,
Became the dark between the poles
Of fading light and endless night,
A final, quiet, whispered flight.
They filled the chkara, one by one,
And were a part of dusk, now gone.
The morning broke on empty street,
No little hands, no running feet.
The parents wept, a sound of dread,
For all their children, lost and fled.
A sorrow that could not be borne,
A village utterly forlorn.
But one man stood, his face a mask,
And set himself a final task.
He went to where the dusk began,
A broken, searching, desperate man.
He walked the path his child once ran,
And called his name to empty air,
A silent question, a spoken prayer.
“My son!” he cried, his voice now weak,
“My child, my son, to me please speak!”
He searched the shadows, thin and wide,
Where now no children could abide.
And from the gloom, a chilling sound,
From silent stones on hallowed ground,
A voice, a single, final plea,
That echoed for eternity.
A whisper from the dust, the air,
A broken word beyond repair.
A word that sealed his son’s dark fate,
A sorrow far too late.
He listened to the dying light,
And heard his child within the night.
“Dad.”
Brahim Bouras is a 24 year old poet from Algeria. He holds a Master’s degree in Linguistics, which informs his work’s technical precision. His poetry is centrally concerned with the dark arts of verse, exploring themes that are often intense, haunting, and sublime. He/Him.
Published 10/30/25