Fathima Faaiza Feroz
Writing poetry is the perfect equivalent for me to find release through the complex emotions I am unable to express in regular conversations
This poem represents the realization that home lies within people and is not confined to places.
A Letter of Gratitude to Home:
That feeling of discomfort stubbornly grows
You find fragments of yourself belonging to different places, but never as a whole
Too fair skinned to be from one country, but too dark for the other
Been told I look like, but don’t share the same colored skin as my mother
Since when was there a rule that you had to be the same shade as every family member?
Society can make you feel like an outcast, like you never truly belong, but you must push through and remember:
Home allows you to love the color of your skin
Home encourages you to embrace everything you have within
Home is where you can be dying of laughter and crying your eyes out the next
Home is where you can pour your heart and soul out without worry that home will reject
I used to find myself grasping for memories that connected me to places
When instead I should have looked right in front of me and seen the warm glow of these
familiar faces
Faces that have shared my highs and lows
Faces that have stood tall beside me whenever the harsh wind blows
Faces that have guided me despite not being near
Faces that have made the feeling of discomfort slowly disappear
Thank you to these faces that have shown me I am not alone
Thank you to these faces that never allow me to feel away from home.
Fathima Faaiza Feroz
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