90 Days
Khaliya Rajan
90 Days
to flee from
the gunshots,
the crimes,
the threats.
90 Days
to get out
or else.
90 Days
to leave our country
our home
and save our lives.
Fear paralyzes us
but we must prevail.
90 Days
The enemy is close,
knees buckle
teeth chatter
hands shake.
Pain sinks in deep
losing all we know
our family
our home.
90 Days
Endangered like the mountain gorillas.
He wants us out
so he can take over rule
and so they can succeed
and improve their lives.
90 Days
They steal from us,
threaten us,
fire bullets at us,
when will this end?
90 Days
Family separated
Family injured
Family killed.
No returning,
no fighting —
we are on the last flight out.
Khaliya Rajan is a grade 11 student who resides in Vancouver, Canada. She is an accomplished writer whose work has been in various publications and who received the Amazon Canada / The Walrus Youth Short Story Award for 2024. She mainly enjoys using her creative outlet to write poetry and short stories. In her spare time, Khaliya enjoys volunteering at her local Ismaili Jamatkhana where she was appointed Youth Team Lead in 2022. In her position, she uses her creative and organizational skills to help bring youth together for fun activities and social gatherings to ensure everyone feels included and accepted. Khaliya is also an active member of her school community. She is a student ambassador and a journalist for her school’s magazine. In April 2024, she organized a Ramadan Food Drive in which she collected over two hundred items that were donated to the Muslim Food Bank.
