Zainab Khamis is a young writer and poet from Bahrain whose work explores memory, identity, and emotional aftermaths. She was selected in the top 25% of The New York Times' 2024-25 My List contest and has been published in Inlandia: A Literary Journey and Progenitor Art and Literary Journal.

Zainab Khamis

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Happiness dances on sunlight's gleam,
A whisper that weaves through a waking dream.
It hums in the hush of a lover's gaze,
And burns like fire in a heart set ablaze.

Happiness is in the laughter that bubbles like springs,
In poems and paintings and wide-open wings.
It hides in the hush of the moon's soft light,
And blooms in the cracks of the loneliest night.

It's tea shared with friends when the world feels cold,
It's stories retold and hands to hold.
It's the ache in your chest when your soul feels seen,
Like a wish once whispered, now kissed by the green.

Happiness isn't a treasure to keep—
It's the glow in your chest before you sleep.
A rhythm, a rhyme, a soul's quiet song,
The place you return to when the days feel too long