In the continuum of my infinite dimensions,
I hold fragments of color, music, and emotion,
Strands of woven thoughts, fragrances, and feelings,
Pieces of love, harshness, and life’s dealings.
I grasp some truths, yet lose others,
Caught in the stillness as time smothers.
I breathe in warmth, cold sacrifices, and screams,
Drink freedom, ambitions, forces, and dreams.
I tread on generational debris, barefoot and raw,
Eating rules, expectations, and words I never saw.
When I reach out, my heart melts,
Splintering into fragments no one has felt.
Is my song of belief a burden to sound's waves?
A bouquet of flowers mistaken for mere garden strolls.
My ears absorb ceaseless commands to behave,
Yet blanket empathy offers no warmth to my soul.
I search for myself in me—and within you.
I am tangible, yet invisible, in this world askew.
I find no place on deciding boards,
Not even reflections in God's abode.
The Sun refuses to cast my shadow,
Nor the rolling hills echo.
On the stage, I am summoned for your entertainment,
And when the curtains fall, emptiness is my statement.
Why does the blood of my food taint my view,
Why do the veils filter my face through?
The music of my love cannot take the stage,
Caged is my soul, bound is my rage,
Buried is my identity in the forgotten age.
When I stand, genuine and whole,
You recalled comforts of eras long cold:
The servitudes of a secured past,
The ego-kisses of privilege amassed,
The biases of generations steadfast.
You remember them all, forgetting my soul.
I am the blind men’s elephant,
Draped in Shadows and painted black.
You feel me by Vagina, gender, country, and race,
Reduced me to language, faith, or my perceived disgrace.
The deceit, the love, the Dalit, the accent,
The monk, the rebel, the choices you resent.
I am always "this" or "that,"
Never the whole mosaic, never truly intact.
I am not the one you must revere,
Nor the one for whom you hold the door near.
I only ask you to see and to be aware:
Without me, your worlds are stripped and winter bare.
Incomplete, fractured, and empty all along,
I am the infinity that fills you and holds you strong.
