Resilience

The epilogue

To the one who has arrived

Bringing lucidity to an interrupted-

And wandering life

That was once tribulated, 

But is now contented

To the one I wear as a second skin

Bringing glee-

And carving pathways to the light within

Filling voids to manifest a fading dream,

Breathing life back into a once dimming gleam

To the one who has heard

And answered a heart in need-

With a love deserved

And set a caged bird free.

I’ve always struggled to be present. To be in the moment, to experience life fully as it is in the present moment, and more importantly, enjoy it. That is kind of how despair works, I suppose. The only thing that got me through the more harrowing moments where I felt empty was my longing for a better future. The belief that things would eventually work out is what kept me going. That is hope. My hope lies in the future, the epilogue, and this is my ode to it. 

Child of Alkebulan.

Dear world…

You don’t know who I am.

To you,

I’m just a face among billions of other faces.

A body among billions of other bodies.

Billions of faces and bodies you encounter daily.

But I am one among those many,

A face, a body,

Connected as one.

A mind, a heart, 

Two parts,  

In spirit.

Dear world,

Call me,

Human.

Define me,

As

Being.

I, Indigo child,

Seed of Alkebulan,

From the womb of invisibility

Appear, 

As I am born and-

My consciousness-fuelled-wails of a babe-in-arms, 

Give a voice to existing.

Yet world,

Even in the midst of my many new roars

Still, you do not hear of me

WORLD, listen, I am present.

In your space, “I AM”.

World,

You plunder-

And I

March in strong opposition, 

To your affliction filled and bloodied deeds

I am awake

While you search for different ways to remain asleep

You divide, conquer, and contaminate

I fight you in hidden actions and in manifested speech 

World,

You try to silence me with your reluctance to understand

That I am more than some other woman

or just another man,

But “I AM”.

“I AM”.

 World, do you hear me?

“I AM!”

World,

You will hear of me-

And,

Your noises stilled 

By the deafening war-cries of the rising dynasty

Rooted indelibly, 

In the fertile soils of my ancestry–

A home within which I,

Drift in the connecting oceans of my tranquillity

Basking in every glorious vision 

Of an emerging me.

Africa’s struggle to come into her own resonates with me deeply. It reminds me of the challenges I’ve faced in defining my identity apart from outside influences and the divisions those influences caused in me.

Now just like her, slowly rising, finding her voice, and embracing her roots, I, too, am boldly declaring who I am, being true to myself, and taking her wherever I go.

Thank you to Apurva Makashir for their inspired edit on this piece and everyone else on the Mental Health team.

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