Their Land Now, and: If I Fall Harder This Time
- Their Land Now, and: If I Fall Harder This Time
Their Land Now
I fled my land,So that history wouldn't catch me.But death of a much greater kind was waiting on the other side.I fled my land because it had caught fire,Its streets had barbed wires.There were walls to cage us in,But our houses kept falling down.And sometimes upon us.The fire fed irony,And the enemy kept feeding us fire.The enemy also had big terrifying laughs,Which swarmed our dreams in fits of twos or threes,They stole our sleep,Then our land,And then our humanity.My land is bloodied,Was bloodied,Because the land no longer belongs to me. [End Page 213]
If I Fall Harder This Time
This is my heart.I will not let it be a graveyardFor people who came with the intentionOf finding a grave within it.I will not let it be cold,I will not let it run dry.I will lick the walls of my own heart,Until the color comes alive,Until the color comes alive.My heart will be red again,No matter how hard the fall comes this time. [End Page 214]
Mahrukh Murad is a high school student residing in Pakistan. She aspires to harness the creative streak in human nature and embody it in her work. Her poetry has been published in TeenInk, The Waggle Magazine, and is forthcoming in The Pangolin Review.
