Oh where did my pieces go
Those that held me together
Time rubbed them apart
And so did the weather
Where did my body go
Curious I long to know
How a man melts like snow
How this beauty withers
Yet his soul
Manages to stay whole
No matter the struggle
Silent was the crowd
After moments of obstreperous cheering
As they learned that her death
Was not in the script
Was not in the play
But they couldn’t help staring
I craved it
The thing I hated the most
The dry hot air
The lack of clouds
The mosquitoes in my hair
I craved what I once wished to escape
Now living in a land where no palm trees grow
Where no one knows
How to say my name
Alien
Became I
Refusing to cry
Over my fortunes
A tattoo
Of a name I used to know
Of hot summers
And dancing in the snow
A tattoo of what I long to remember
Lines on my hands
That remind me of December
And July
Reasons why
I wrote it once
A life time ago
Secrets I long to know
There’s a corner so small
That fit me perfectly
In my childhood home
Where I loved to be
There’s a smell
Of what?
I can no longer tell
But it comforted me
There are places that I know
I’ll never again see
Circumstances
That I wished have gone differently
There are pieces scattered
Along the Mediterranean sea
Pieces of me
Still stuck in a small corner
Of a childhood home
Where life played out
Perfectly
She was a light that glowed
In a dark aphotic world
Beam piercing with light
Disturbing the inhabitants
Pushing away the night
Making the creatures too uneasy to stay
Banishing the darkness away
She was named
Love
I thought it magical
Surreal
That the night sky
Be filled with steal
And change to day
Flash after flash
Of the bombs falling my way
I thought it a beautiful end
To an uneventful beginning
The 13 year old is no longer begging
To stay alive
The fig tree by the house with no backyard
Always welcomed me
It was comforting and warm
Teaching me
A child I was
Not knowing death nor life
It taught me eternity
The fig tree in my grandmother’s house
Will always live within me
Some days I crave a sun so bright
Instead of Memphis rain
And people that can say my real name
Some days I feel my skin turning back
A darker shade close to black
And I hear my roots calling me home
But most days I know I am not alone
In feeling so far away from home
We’re all immigrants after all
Waiting for the call
To return to heaven
Windows open
Rain is singing me an ancient lullaby
Here I lay
Listening
As mother nature reminds us all
How drops so small
Can cause a flood as they fall
How little things matter
Stranger Paths 