I Am

"You may not control all the events that happen to you, 
but you can decide not to be reduced by them."

- Maya Angelou -

"I Am"

I am here.

I'm not overcast skies, nor blinding sunlight

But I am somewhere in between

I'm determination that reaches mountain peaks

And love that deepens ocean floors

Complex like the physical world

I won't fit in boxes with predetermined dimensions

Crammed into darkness, stripped of senses

Within tolerance, without acceptance

Deprived of space for growth

I don't care to be tolerated

By those who crave black and white opposites

Day and night contrasts

Mutually exclusive concepts

That forever neglect context

And fuel myths of the oxymoron...
 
Like "White Muslim Feminist."

A nuanced universe requires nuanced descriptions

That exist beyond the diction

Of our common linguistics

So I communicate in colors and metaphors

For they hold more meaning than your empty words

You see my white skin

It's light shining through a prism

Comprised of endless hues

I am blue with pain

And red with hurt

But green with renewal from the earth

A caged bird now free to soar

Rise,

       Rise,

              Rising

Far above labels that served as limitations

I seek liberation from that place

Where I straddled two worlds in a futile search

For wholeness...
With a fear of time

Seeking to belong on either side of an arbitrary line

I'm not winter's bitter chill

Nor summer's still warmth

I am a symphony of rain

Living most truly where these points intersect

With the capacity to destroy and replenish

Both beautiful and absolutely imperfect,

I am here.