An island boy unravels
his heritage and discovers
himself no longer adrift
on the Thames.
He dives like his pearl-hunting ancestors
but finds only
muddy darkness.
Is he truly an island,
or is he a body
of water—or perhaps
a desert?
And who can traverse
this vastness but the son of
camel-herding Suwayq?
Is he Omani?
Or is he Bahrani?
How can I convey
the poetic richness
of my Persian ancestors,
who found themselves
landlocked
and tongue-tied
until their children
lost everything between
two seas?
That sounds awfully
familiar.
I can’t untie my tongue
nor my religious beliefs—
both are knots
each ancestor ensured
would never be relieved.
Both Banu Hashem
and Banu Sa’d find themselves
no longer warring,
but peacefully
coexisting in the veins
of an island boy.
Painting Courtesy of our featured artist Fahed Mohamed Shehab
