The Heart of an Immigrant Writer

“The immigrant’s heart marches to the beat of two quite different drums, one from the old homeland and the other from the new. The immigrant has to bridge these two worlds, living comfortably in the new and bringing the best of his or her ancient identity and heritage to bear on life in an adopted homeland.”- Mary McAleese

Reading yet another evocative book one night

I thought- why were so many immigrants compelled to write

Stories set in lands whose shores they had left behind

Narratives giving a glimpse into the longing in their minds..

 

Perhaps the gnawing pain of separation necessitates

Expression in words- it is an attempt to placate

The uprooted soul which in the process of immigration

Loses its bearings, silently protests in indignation..

 

Or maybe, forced to leave one’s motherland 

Succumbing to fate’s cruel, unrelenting hands

Refugees have traumatic memories that torment

Such that to process those harrowing moments

They turn to writing as a therapeutic exercise

Demons of the past they thus exorcise..

 

They say broken hearts make poets out of many men

Immigration is worse than a heartbreak, I think, brethren

No wonder the anguish that an immigrant carries inside

Is woven in beautiful words within which his feelings hide..

 

As an immigrant I can feel, I can touch those words

That describe the love and longing for lost worlds

Words wrapped in pages that mirror my emotions 

Words that stir my heart, create a commotion..

I hope one day my pent emotions shall spill over into

Words that form powerful stories too..