Island

You were an island

Your asylum built to protect your world from you

Torn through the insidious violence of benevolence

From the history of your ocean floor

You were an island

In the monochrome photographs of domestic beauty

Drawing boundaries for the uncertain

Through your lal paar shada shari and alta lores

You were an island

Perched on a rock of separation

Un-embroidering stories of alien pillow cases

With a sea of lost children washing your shores

You were an island

Contained from your jewel dreams by eastern prison bars

And trapped within each red night of your madness  

The circle on your forehead shone brighter than before

You are an island

Rooted in an inconsequential family’s love stained fear

In a granddaughter’s waking nightmares

You branch out slowly from your ubiquitous core