Until the End of Time

Rehan:

Another fine effort!

IN discussing the temporalness of MAN, nomad and drifter are okay, but mohajir somehow doesn`t sit well. Also there are a couple of typos.
{line 14--`an` s/b `in`----- sp/error ``foreigner``---
hope you don`t mind).

Do we belong........? Anywhere, and at anytime?
That is the eternally intriguing question. We can spend a lifetime deciphering this. Perhaps, home is where the heart is. And that is where we belong.

regards

Good poem. Carries some very interesting sentiments - with which many of us will empathize.

After moving several times myself and finally settling in the US, the question of ``home`` and belonging only becomes tougher and more obscure - and sometimes it seems that the concept of nationalism, home, us vs them is all an illusion, a dangerous illusion.

But it is your line ``But I know what`s love and what is hate`` that I like the most.

Perhaps the problem is that we are all new at this - new at travelling and assimilating over and over, new at accepting diversity in ourselves. My husband is from suriname, his ancestory is from the african slaves, the indian and indonesian laborers, the dutch and scotish oppressors and the native americans. And he does not feel obliged to make a choice. Why can`t one`s home be anywhere in the world. Why cannot one choose the culture they wish to preserve. I agree with temporal - the home is where the heart is. If we could make our hearts bigger, our home would not be so unhospitable to newcomers.

Rehan... very ambitious of you... definately struck a cord (as I`m sure it did with many of the readers here). The definition of ``home`` is something I know I have been struggling with a long time...
``But I shall not abandon my ancient ways``.
Good Luck. Maybe I have just become too cynical; regardless, the issue we are struggling with is culture. And culture is not and cannot be understood as a static phenomenon. Culture is in a continuous state of flux. We may never find where we are `supposed` to belong, and we may always feel like strangers in our own `homes`, but, on some level, there might be some people (let us say, pehaps, a metacommunity)who think and act similar; and then the choice to be a part of that community is yours.
Personally, I find it exhilarating to be such a mishmash of the world. I know so much more, and am open to learn and experience so much more because of the ``otherness`` that I exude, because of my ``stranger`` category, and because I am not like anyone here nor there.

Would I give up the very core of my personality to have a place to call ``Home``?

Ah, but, is that not the million dollar question?

Still searching for answers...
Uzma.

Re: ``Home is .....``

Truth: Home is where the ``Heart`` Is

Reality: Home is where the ``job`` is