Poem: How I became my home

By Sabila Siddiqui

Out of the heart’s cavernous longing,

She stumbled upon the gates of an embellished soul.

–

Dreams sat on the mantelpiece,

Constructed out of sturdy words of trust,

Next to kindness and respect.

–

He would pull the fire out of his heart,

Blanketing her in warmth 

And place her among the stars in his eyes,

Gazing upon the twilight.

–

He became the city

She wanted to live in,

Every place she wanted to rest her pain in.

She became familiar with his geology,

His psychology and biology,

As they became her sanctuary.

–

But the wallpapers have now peeled,

And she has been invaded. 

Her door is trampled

And the windows shattered

As the hurricanes whirl winded 

Everything within.

–

Curtains are pulled shut

To conceal the tear-stained floors,

Allowing no soul to peak.

–

Locked doors,

Confined out of the 

Carving off her rib cage

Bring about the drought on her tongue, 

Thorns in her throat, 

And knots in her stomach.

–

The meadow of soft grass

Is now dry and withered,

As she gazes upon the starless sky,

Abandoned.

–

Memories climb up her spine

Settling into the attics of her mind

As her skin collects dust.

–

The memories that hugged the walls

Have now rusted and tainted,

As the house she knew 

Was no longer on her map.

–

But with the passing time of collecting dust,

Light peaks between the crevices.

–

The interior of her mind

Is changing as the

Curtains are pulled apart

And the floor takes a peak

Of the fiery red hues that

Infiltrated old life anew.

–

Skin dusted, 

And a bookshelf of wisdom now placed, 

She constructs a home

Out of rubble and bricks of agony;

She becomes her home.

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