It has taken decades of learning and understanding to dismantle the feeling of otherness within an identity that uncoupled homeland and hometown. For many, this journey is familiar. These words are a pilgrimage.
mẹ and bà always recount
that enchanted place
a jade motherland interwoven
with threads of ruby and gold
the roots far off
obscured from “home”
but of where I received my gifts
the look in my eye
that I mistook for so long
as the look of my eye
it was you
sunlight from the fatherland
clouded by red soil
steadily finding its way back to the sky
long strides from my childhood souvenirs
I see it today in depth
a space between no longer foreign to me
beaming, radiant, and ablaze
piecing itself back, a star
Written by Sheila Lam for Youth To The People
