Origin Story

Written by: Urooj Salar

I am the girl from the mountains that hold my roots,
the way my mother used to hold me in her arms. 

I am the girl split into sections by lines on a map
drawn by strangers with ill intentions,
dictating where one fraction of my identity begins
and the other ends.

I am the girl with the sun in her eyes,
and the stars mapped on her face – or so the poet in me says.
Sometimes, the sun blinds me, the stars hide,
and I am lost until my history finds me.

I am the girl from the edge of a nation that refuses to act like one.
My people are born poets; unlike our blood, this passion for our language
cannot be drained from our veins,
no matter how deep you cut.

I am the girl from a village in the north of the south of the east,
where the snow falls in clumps instead of flakes;
where my father used to play, where my grandparents used to pray.

I am the woman from the mountains that hold my roots,
and those mountains my heart still call home.

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