You know that moment when you're about to fall asleep but come up with something brilliant? You tell yourself you'll remember it in the morning, but you never do. That has happened to me one too many times. So last Thursday when I fell into my bed feeling as though I had just ran a marathon, and the first line of a poem popped into my head, I forced myself to get up and write it down.

This is the first poem:

Clipped wings
Shackled down
I keep my face upward
Searching the stormy clouds
Praying for blue skies.
I look to the past
To remember the lessons of the future.
Broken free
Keeping restraint
I pass my wisdom onward.

And the second poem I wrote the same night:

Triumph

Born out of the ashes of loss and hope
I am the phoenix of retribution.
Molded to fit a certain cast
I rebel only to reform.
My heritage stays true
Throughout my transformations
I cast off skins
But retain the same ignitions.


Thanks for reading!

Peace, Love, and Hijabs,

Niala