Hues of History
By Umamah Farooq
Identifies with the nation of Pakistan
I wish I could remember everything
my grandfather told me of struggle and sacrifice when it meant more than one skipped meal or
lack of a soft bed for sleep,
of loyalty and honor
in men who held their nation first above all else,
of bravery that transcended
the boundaries of speaking out against tyranny.
I don't understand how a country can
hope to be acknowledged in high rank
if it's people are taught to despise
the color of their own skin.
The melanin is heritage
and it is history which is to say
that we are to make peace with the past
without abandoning it because what is
a person if not the continuation of an age-old story.
Urdu refuses to roll of our tongues
as seamlessly as it did before
and I wonder why a language of love
and spirituality could've became
a thing we shy away from,
how love could ever replace Ishq,
how friend could ever replace Yar,
how history could ever be ashamed
of its future.
Umamah Farooq is a literature student from Pakistan with an enthusiasm for modern poetry and heartbreaking contemporary novels. She has been writing since the age of 12 and her poems have been published in a number of online magazines including Cathartic Literary Magazine, The Paper Crane Journal and Ice Lolly Review.