Letters to a Dear Stranger - By Amerat Asapoh Issaka

Written By: Amerat Asapoh Issaka

Category: Letters in the form of poetry

Competition: Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026

We are delighted to feature "Letters to a Dear Stranger," a poignant collection of letters in poetic form by Amerat Asapoh Issaka. Submitted to the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026, this work invites readers into a space of empathy and introspection. The letters, written for an unnamed stranger, offer solace and understanding, encouraging readers to embrace their journey of self-discovery and healing.

About the Work

"Letters to a Dear Stranger" explores themes of vulnerability, resilience, and the human experience. Through a series of compassionate and reflective letters, Amerat Asapoh Issaka provides a comforting voice to those navigating life's challenges. The work is imbued with gentle wisdom and heartfelt encouragement, reminding readers that they are not alone in their struggles. The vivid imagery and tender prose create a safe space for introspection and connection.

Letters to a dear stranger

Original Submission by Amerat Asapoh Issaka

Letters to a Dear Stranger

by Amera

Nature's walking diary 🌿

________________

Dedication

For the stranger who stayed.

For the one who is still learning, still becoming, still here.

These letters were never meant to fix you. They were only meant to sit beside you.

________________

A Note Before You Begin

Dear stranger,

I don't know your name.

I don't know what brought you here.

Maybe you found these letters on a hard night.

Maybe you found them on a quiet morning.

Maybe you weren't looking for anything at all.

That's okay.

These letters were written for you anyway.

They are not instructions.

They are not answers.

They are just words from someone who knows what it feels like to carry more than you can say out loud.

I wrote them one at a time, not knowing who would read them—only hoping that somewhere, someone would feel a little less alone.

So read them slowly.

Read them out of order if you want.

Come back to the ones you need.

Skip the ones you don't.

There is no right way to be human, and there is no right way to read this.

Just know this:

You are allowed to change.

You are allowed to rest.

You are allowed to ask for help.

You are allowed to begin again.

And whatever tonight looks like for you—

please stay,

dear stranger.

🤍

________________

1. Please Stay, Dear Stranger

I don't know your name.

I don't know what happened.

I don't know how long you've been carrying this.

But I know that sometimes pain is so loud that disappearing begins to sound like peace.

If that's where you are tonight, please don't make forever out of a moment that is hurting you.

You don't have to fix your life tonight.

You don't have to understand everything.

You don't even have to feel hopeful.

For now, just stay.

Please don't carry this alone.

Find someone.

Sit beside them, even if you have no words.

Tell them, "I'm not okay, and I don't think I should be alone right now."

You don't have to say everything before you are heard.

Let someone sit beside you until the weight is a little easier to carry.

You don't have to decide what your whole story means tonight.

Let tomorrow meet you first.

Please stay,

dear stranger.

________________

2. You Are Not a Burden for Being Human

Dear stranger,

Maybe you have been telling yourself that everyone would be better off without you.

Maybe you've gotten so used to needing help that you've started apologizing for needing it.

But needing someone does not make you a burden.

You are allowed to have days when you can't carry yourself.

You are allowed to say,

"I need you."

You don't have to disappear because you are struggling to be present.

Let someone help you.

Let them sit with you.

Let them listen.

Let them stay, even if all you can do is cry.

You wouldn't ask someone you love to carry their pain by themselves.

Please offer yourself the same kindness.

You are not a burden for being human.

And tonight, you don't have to carry this by yourself.

________________

3. You Don't Have to Have the Words

Dear stranger,

Maybe you want someone to know,

but you don't know how to explain what is happening inside of you.

Maybe when someone asks,

"What's wrong?"

you simply say, "Nothing."

Not because nothing is wrong,

but because you don't know where to begin.

You don't need the right words.

You can simply say,

"I'm struggling."

You can say,

"Please stay with me."

You can even sit in silence.

Sometimes, being heard begins

with saying just one small thing.

So tell someone.

Not everything.

Just enough to stop carrying it alone.

You don't have to find the words by yourself.

________________

4. This Is Not All You Are

Dear stranger,

Maybe you are tired of remembering what you did.

Maybe you replay the mistake.

The decision.

The words you wish you could take back.

And maybe you've started to think that because you made a terrible choice,

you must be a terrible person.

But you are more than the worst thing you have ever done.

A mistake can have consequences.

You can regret it.

You can take responsibility for it.

But you are still allowed to become someone beyond it.

You don't have to punish yourself forever

for something you wish you could change.

If there is something to repair, repair it.

If there is someone to apologize to, apologize.

If there is something to learn, learn it.

But please—

do not turn one chapter into the whole story.

There are still pages you have not written.

________________

5. You Don't Have to Be Strong

Dear stranger,

Maybe you are tired of being strong.

Tired of saying, "I'm fine,"

when you are falling apart inside.

You don't have to hold everything together today.

You can cry.

You can say, "I can't do this alone."

Because sometimes,

strength is not holding yourself together.

Sometimes,

strength is letting someone hold you for a while.

You don't have to carry it all alone.

Please stay.

________________

6. You Are Allowed to Begin Again

Dear stranger,

Maybe you are tired of who you became

while trying to survive what happened to you.

Maybe you look at your life

and wish you could start over.

Perhaps you can.

Not by erasing yesterday.

Not by pretending it never happened.

Just by deciding

that yesterday does not get to write tomorrow.

You are allowed to begin again.

Quietly.

Slowly.

One small choice at a time.

A new beginning doesn't always look like a new life.

Sometimes, it simply looks like staying.

________________

7. You Are Not Behind

Dear stranger,

Maybe you look around

and everyone is moving,

but you are still standing there.

People are getting married.

Getting jobs.

Building lives.

And you are still trying to figure out

how to get through the day.

But life is not a race

you are losing.

You are not behind.

You are just living a life

that doesn't fit into

anyone else's timeline.

Take your time.

Some flowers bloom later

and are still flowers. 🌿

________________

8. You Are Allowed to Rest

Dear stranger,

Maybe you're tired

from trying to go on.

Not just tired.

Exhausted.

And perhaps you have mistaken

rest for giving up.

It isn't.

You can put things down

without throwing your life away.

You can pause.

You can breathe.

You can ask someone to stay.

You don't have to solve tomorrow

while you are still trying

to survive today.

Rest if you need to.

Just don't disappear.

________________

9. You Are Still Worth Knowing

Dear stranger,

Maybe you have gotten good at hiding

the parts of yourself

you think nobody would understand.

Maybe you smile

so no one asks questions.

But you don't have to be easy

to be loved.

You can be complicated.

You can be hurting.

You can be unfinished.

Let someone know you

beyond the version of you

that says, "I'm fine."

You are still worth knowing.

Even here.

Don't close your doors

because you think no one cares.

________________

10. One Day at a Time

Dear stranger,

Maybe thinking about tomorrow

feels like too much.

So don't carry tomorrow today.

Just get through this morning.

Then this afternoon.

Then tonight.

You don't have to know

how everything will work out.

You only need to stay

for the part of the story

you are living right now.

Sometimes surviving

is just taking the next step.

And if the next step seems impossible,

let someone take it with you.

________________

11. You Don't Have to Explain Your Pain

Dear stranger,

Maybe people have told you

that others have it worse.

Maybe they've made you feel

like your pain needs permission to matter.

But pain is not a competition.

You don't have to prove

you are hurting

before you deserve care.

What you feel matters

even if someone else doesn't understand it.

You are allowed to hurt

without saying why.

________________

12. Heal Before It Becomes an Inheritance

Dear stranger,

Maybe you grew up

with wounds nobody talked about.

Things happened.

People moved on.

And you learned to live

with what was never healed.

But unspoken pain

doesn't always disappear.

Sometimes, it gets passed down.

So work on it.

Talk about it.

Seek help if you need to.

Not because you are broken,

but because you deserve to heal.

Heal before your pain

becomes someone else's inheritance.

________________

13. You Can Ask for Help

Dear stranger,

Maybe you have spent so long

being the one everyone depends on

that asking for help feels weird.

Maybe you think

you should be able to do it on your own.

But even strong people

need somewhere to lean.

You can ask for help

before everything falls apart.

You can say,

"I'm not okay."

You can say,

"I need someone."

There is no shame

in needing a hand.

Sometimes, the strongest thing

you can do for yourself

is admit you need one.

________________

14. The World Will Never Know Everything You Survived

Dear stranger,

There are things you survived

nobody knows about.

The nights you cried quietly.

The things you never said.

The moments you almost gave up,

but woke up the next morning anyway.

Maybe nobody saw it.

But you did.

And maybe you forgot

how many times

you kept yourself alive

without knowing how.

So before you decide

that you can't do this anymore,

remember—

you've survived days

you once thought would destroy you.

Maybe this day

doesn't get to be the one

that decides your ending.

________________

15. Don't Let One Person Become Your Whole World

Dear stranger,

Maybe someone hurt you so badly

that you started believing

you could never be whole again.

Maybe they left.

Maybe they chose someone else.

Maybe you loved them

more than they loved you.

And now,

their absence feels like

the absence of everything.

But listen—

You lost someone.

You did not lose your life.

Grieve them.

Miss them.

Cry if you need to.

But don't bury yourself

with what ended.

You can love someone

and still choose to live

beyond them.

What ended with them

does not have to be

the end of you.

________________

16. Some Days, Just Exist

Dear stranger,

You don't have to make today meaningful.

You don't have to be productive.

You don't have to be inspiring.

You don't have to become a better version of yourself.

Some days are simply meant

to be lived through.

Eat something.

Take a shower.

Open the window.

Watch the sky change.

Let the day be ordinary.

You don't have to do something extraordinary

to have a reason to stay.

________________

17. There Are Things You Haven't Met Yet

Dear stranger,

You have not met

everyone who will love you.

You haven't seen

every place that will make you feel alive.

You haven't heard

the song that will be yours.

There are conversations

you haven't had yet.

Laughter

you haven't laughed yet.

Mornings

you haven't woken up to.

Your life is still carrying things

you haven't discovered.

Don't leave

before you meet them.

________________

18. You Are Allowed to Change

Dear stranger,

Maybe you have spent so long

being who everyone needed you to be

that you forgot to ask

who you wanted to become.

You are allowed to change.

You can outgrow old versions of yourself.

You can change your mind.

You can leave behind

what no longer feels like you.

Not everyone will understand.

That's okay.

You don't have to remain

the person people remember

just because they remember you that way.

You are still becoming.

Give yourself permission to become. 🌿

________________

19. We Are All Learning

Dear stranger,

It's our first time on earth.

It's the first time

our parents are being parents.

The first time

we are being ourselves.

Every child is different.

No one was given a manual.

Maybe forgiveness begins

when we stop expecting perfection

from people who are learning too.

We are all trying.

We are all stumbling.

We are all getting some things wrong.

And maybe grace

is what makes being human

a little more bearable.

We are all learning.

Perhaps that is why

we need grace from one another. 🌿

________________

20. You Are Still Here

Dear stranger,

If you are reading this,

perhaps you made it through another day.

Maybe nothing changed.

Maybe the pain is still there.

Maybe you are still tired.

Maybe you still don't know

what tomorrow will look like.

And that's okay.

You don't have to have an answer tonight.

You don't have to know

how the whole story ends.

Just stay long enough

to find out what comes next.

There will be days

you understand yourself better.

Days you laugh without forcing it.

Days you look back

and realize you were closer to the edge

than anyone knew.

But for now,

let this be enough:

You are still here.

And maybe,

for tonight,

that is enough.

Please stay,

dear stranger. 💜

________________

A Note After You Finish

Dear stranger,

If you have made it this far, thank you.

Thank you for staying with these words.

Thank you for letting them sit beside you, even for a little while.

I don't know where you are tonight.

I don't know what your story holds.

But I hope something here found you at the right moment.

I hope one line landed softly.

I hope you felt a little less alone.

These letters were never meant to be read all at once.

They were meant to be returned to.

On the hard nights.

On the quiet mornings.

On the days you forget who you are becoming.

So keep them.

Come back when you need them.

And if you ever wonder whether you matter—

you do.

You always did.

You are still here.

And that is enough.

Please stay,

dear stranger.

With love,

Amera

Nature's walking diary 🌿

About the Competition

The Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026 by Hashtag Kalakar celebrates the power of words and creativity. This prestigious event invites writers and poets from around the world to share their unique voices and stories. Through a diverse array of categories, the competition aims to foster a global community of artists and showcase the transformative impact of poetry and creative writing.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Amerat Asapoh Issaka for sharing "Letters to a Dear Stranger" with us. Your thoughtful and emotive work is a beautiful contribution to the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026, offering comfort and understanding to readers everywhere. We appreciate your participation and look forward to the continued impact of your words.

About Hashtag Kalakar

Hashtag Kalakar is a creative platform dedicated to providing artists, writers, singers and other creative talents with opportunities to showcase their work and reach wider audiences through competitions, features and creative initiatives.