11801-a poem from Tabeen
Tabeen is a medical student living in America, and, like all medical students, she of course lives and breathes poetry. She can be found online @safareishq
Tabeen: “This was written as an ode to my grandparents’ backyard, a peaceful place which has seen me through some of my life’s most beautiful and most difficult moments. When I visit this place, it is my responsibility to fill the bird feeders placed there. Doing that ritual while witnessing the natural world has become a spiritual home for me. This home is a place I can rest, breathe, honestly appraise my soul, and learn to survive. I hope this poem can help someone do the same in some small way”.
Do not come here anymore,
This place is not for you.
This place is for creatures too small to be seen by the naked eye.
This land is only for those who are honest,
Who eat their fill and fly onwards to see new sunsets.
This terrain is for dragonflies and sparrows and ants
And doves and blackbirds and grasses and seeds and flowers.
This ground is meant for thorns to adorn.
This earth is meant to hold a bowl of water that reflects the sky and ripples endlessly.
This sky is for carrying the clouds that float lazily and leave unceremoniously.
This field is for caressing the wind that blows and blows, carrying nothing with it but dreams.
This place is for shivering hands, a sweaty face, a bleeding arm, and muddy feet.
This land is for mouse carcasses to be found on and for coyotes to wander at night, howling.
This terrain is home to beasts that are capable of gnawing their own legs off if they get caught in a trap.
This ground is made in order for the words goodness and kindness and love and evil and pain and suffering to have no value.
This earth was made for the passerby, not for those who colonize.
This place is not for those who forget to turn the ringer off on their phone,
And carelessly disturb the tiny lives travelling their tiny paths all around.
This land is not going to provide an opportunity for you to look at someone’s face, or for me to look beautiful.
This terrain is not meant for temporary feelings or meaningless conversations that take place beyond the edges of survival.
This ground is not here to sustain confused beings who cannot decide on their role in life.
This earth is not supposed to be stared at and analyzed in a mirror or photo.
This sky is not a backdrop for daydreaming as hunger grows and desire wanes.
This field is not a witness for someone that wants to know another.
This place is not for smiling with pristine white teeth and complaining with a full belly.
This land is not ideal for those that cannot give without expecting something in return.
This terrain is not suitable for people that are afraid of themselves or their own jaws.
This ground is not present for the purpose of supporting a growing smile.
This earth was not created for companionship, but for vagabonds.
01/15/24