Cecilia Morris: Poem ‘Reflections’

‘I’m a dinkum Aussie poet,
And I don’t care who knows it.’
(Les Murray)

I listen to you recite poetry
follow footsteps to your shack
with its fading paint.
You talk of family history.

The screen door bangs,
we walk through tall wallaby grass
pace your land.

Blue-tongue lizards
shelter among leaf litter,
hiss as we pass down the street
so wide once for bullock carts.

The Northerly buffets us
outside the mechanics hall,
by the war memorial,

We move to the lagoon,
watch eels slide quickly past.

The closest thing to poetry
is the moon, you say.

I am grounded, in Melbourne,
where one house is pressed
against the next.

I wander outside
into a clear night,
lit by a full moon.
Not the wide luminous moon
Of your heartland,
But still it draws me out

We share the night.

Cecilia Morris

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Aziza Xasanova: Short story ‘Trust’

She was an ordinary girl who trusted everyone too easily. She would tell all her secrets to her closest friend, Munisa, and feel relieved afterward. But as people say, “A girl has no true female friend.”

Guli believed Munisa was her dearest friend, but she discovered the painful truth too late—Munisa had betrayed her. How could she? Why? These questions echoed in Guli’s mind. With tears in her eyes, she silently promised herself, “I will never trust anyone again.”

Munisa would share every secret Guli confided in her with other girls. She spoke badly about Guli behind her back, yet whenever they met, she embraced her warmly as if she were the most loyal friend in the world.

One day, Guli said to Munisa about their classmate Nafisa,

“She has gained a little weight, but honestly, she looks even more beautiful.”

Then she added,

“Please don’t tell her I said that. Nafisa is always on a strict diet and doesn’t like gaining weight. If she hears it, she’ll be hurt.”

Two days later, Nafisa approached Guli.

“So you called me chubby, Gulikhon? I never expected that from you. You always told me I had a beautiful figure. Munisa told me everything. I thought you were a kind person, but now I see they were right—you are selfish and dishonest,” she said with disappointment.

At that moment, memories of three years of friendship with Munisa flashed before Guli’s eyes. Could it really be true? Had her closest friend been telling everyone her secrets? A deep pain filled her heart.

When Guli confronted Munisa, she replied indifferently,

“What’s the problem? I didn’t say anything bad.”

Guli looked at her with disbelief.

“I never expected this from you.”

Munisa simply answered,

“You’re the bad one. I only told the truth.”

From that day on, Guli could no longer trust anyone. Even during her school years, she had always been shy about getting close to other girls. When she entered university, she believed she had finally found a true friend.

Sadly, she was wrong.

Once trust is broken, it is almost impossible to restore. And sometimes, nothing ever becomes the way it was before.

Aziza Xasanova

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