Neither here nor there –
that is how I am
about being a citizen
of a country I was not born in.
My heart and my soul
formed by my mother land
are the mirrors through which
I see life in my adoptive home.
From a distance,
I celebrate with my kinsman
and from a distance
I grieve for their misfortune.
One day, I went back
enjoyed the familiar smiles and places
but for that nagging thought –
years made me an outsider
finding her place
in her own mother’s arms.
~~~~~
For Daily Post’s Land of Confusion prompt, and November PAD Chapbook Challenge’s Day which was to write a Half-way poem.
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That is poignant, an outsider in her mother’s arms.
Thanks, Brenda. It was a weird feeling.
congrats! home will always be the place where the heart is.
It’s true. Maybe, home changes when family is involved. Home is wherever they are?
Exactly what I myself feel.
It’s a little odd, right? When I visited the home country, I was missing my current home a lot.
And you also feel a little disconnected from the land of your birth. That is what we felt when we visited 5 years later.
Disconnected. You said it right. It was weird to be disconnected from the place I have known all my life.
You must be extremely saddened with the tragedy in Philippines….even more than most of us…Diane
Yeah, I was and I feel bad that I cannot do anything tangible to help, e.g., volunteer in one of the relief operations.
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Thanks. 🙂
Oh, I can relate very well ~ I feel sad about her misfortunes but I’m happy to see her smiles despite the troubles ~
Thanks, Grace. 🙂
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Ahh Imelda, I see myself in your beautiful and very touching poem.
When I left my homeland in England to live in America for the best part of 20 years I missed my family so very much. I always felt like an outsider even though I embraced my life there as best I could. Then, when I returned to my homeland 10 years ago, for a while, I felt like an outsider all over again. Strange that.
I know how very difficult it must be for you now in the face of the tragedy in your homeland. My prayers are with you and yours…
Sherri, I appreciate your sharing your experience. Sometimes, I feel guilty for feeling disconnected from my home land. Now, it seems like estrangement is something that many go through.
Thank you so much for your kind thoughts about my country. It was pretty battered, but thanks be to everybody from all over the world, my countrymen and my country are able to move on and hopefully rebuild.
Bless you Imelda, you, your family and your countrymen…
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Beautiful poem, and it got me thinking. I’ve never lived anywhere else, so I can’t imagine what it would be like to be almost in between countries, not fully belonging to either of them.
Thanks, Janna. 🙂 It’s nice to know other cultures and to see other things. Yet, it is also nice to be not confused as I am sometimes. 🙂
You said this so well, Imelda. I also feel like something of a stranger in my mother land, which is England.
I’ve just started a new blog. You can follow me here: http://anotherday2paradise.wordpress.com/
Precise truth!