They Knew It
I hear a lot. 'Are you feeling lonely?' 'Are you feeling sad, that you are so far away from your daughter and wife?' Or the latest, 'Do you miss them?' I really do not know how to response. I wish the questioners did not know the answers already. But they know the answers, sometimes better than me; even then they do not hesitate to ask. May be they hunt a pinch of sorrow on my face or search for a drop of pain from my eyes. May be they want to converse just as fellow humans are supposed to do, but I can't give them what they want. I smile to them. A tweak on my lips. Mysterious kind. May have different interpretations, based on the question. I don’t know what they interpret, but they seem to be satisfied at the end. And I get it. Sometimes a smile or mysterious silence is the best response to a difficult question, or a question of known answer. Most of the questioners question not to listen, but to start a conversation or to prove that they are eno