I looked for stars
She gave me rockets
I looked for flowers
She covered the petals
with rubble
I looked for my cat
She had let him roam free
until he disappeared

One day, a young girl
bumped into me and asked:
How does bright lipstick feel?
I smiled, covered her lips with color
She jumped higher and higher,
swirled like the most beautiful creature
on earth… and she was
even on that day,
when she was lying
in red
between her father’s arms
when people ran after him
with screams
higher than her jumps
motionless she stayed
cold and gray

This homeland does not resemble me
I looked for stars
She gave me rockets
I looked for flowers
She covered the petals
with rubble
I looked for a life
to call my own
I found nothing
except the word survivor
written in line
with many names
Have the same miraculous signs

This homeland does not resemble me
She keeps forcing me to my knees
and holds me
with a brief breeze
whispers in my ears:
“We are going to be okay
in another world,
our wounds may one day heal”

These shining stars
were her tears all along
her quiet pleas
between rockets
this whole time
my land was a young woman,
looking for flowers just like me
My homeland
she resembles no one in the world
but me . . .