In my mind I paint a picture<\/p>\n
of myself: the perfect mixture,<\/p>\n
Invent a me that’s in control,<\/p>\n
sophisticated fixture<\/p>\n
Have all these thoughts colliding<\/p>\n
in my head, feelings dividing<\/p>\n
Should\u2019ve payed closer attention to<\/p>\n
Those supposed holy scriptures<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If I really trusted angels and prophets and mystic teachings,<\/p>\n
I wouldn\u2019t waste my time searching for different meaning<\/p>\n
I hope it\u2019s not my fault that I\u2019m troubled with all these demons<\/p>\n
I think it\u2019s just this world, too many changes of season<\/p>\n
Cause if I really had some faith, I\u2019d live what I was preaching<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I struggle with this mental image<\/p>\n
Tossing and turning<\/p>\n
Am I even that special<\/p>\n
Is my life that deserving?<\/p>\n
My faith tells me to leave this world aside,<\/p>\n
that\u2019s too obscure for me<\/p>\n
Else why am I still fighting<\/p>\n
Through all this insecurity?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But somehow life always brings me back<\/p>\n
Kneeling in your presence here,<\/p>\n
I let you gaze upon me while I<\/p>\n
simply exist, no fear<\/p>\n
See right and wrong before me,<\/p>\n
still somehow always run<\/p>\n
I rarely choose you, yet you call me Chosen One<\/p>\n
Suddenly, I see the answer so clear<\/p>\n
Everything I\u2019ve been searching for,<\/p>\n
in front of me, draws near<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve nothing to prove, I\u2019ve nothing to earn<\/p>\n
Yet the one who made the stars,<\/p>\n
For my heart freely yearns<\/p>\n
If this abounding love is promised to me,<\/p>\n
Why waste my time aspiring to be<\/p>\n
A person I\u2019m not for somebody else’s pleasure?<\/p>\n
An imitation for them, while I\u2019m another One\u2019s treasure?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I trust angels and prophets and even most mystic teachings,<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t waste my time searching for different meaning<\/p>\n
I know it\u2019s not my fault that I struggle with all these demons<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just this world we live in, I know this is the reason<\/p>\n
But this faith that I\u2019ve grown helps me live what I\u2019m preaching<\/p>\n
And now I\u2019m quite certain I\u2019ll keep on believing<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Explanation:<\/p>\n
For this week\u2019s blog, I have decided to take my own shot at poetry. I\u2019ve never been a poet, a lyricist, or anything creative, but faith is something that I think is universally understood by those who\u2019ve experienced it. Something that struck me from week nine\u2019s lecture was the phenomenon faced by these poets in attempting to express this suprarational and supernatural experience of spirituality that is experienced outside of time and space. I have witnessed first-hand how difficult it can be to verbalize or quantify faith, because it does very much exist on an other-worldly plane.<\/p>\n
Something I loved about the ghazals was that they expressed divine love by drawing analogies to an experience that would resonate with most readers: carnal, romantic love. Although my poem veers off the traditional ghazal form and doesn\u2019t revolve around the human love experience, it does center in around another experience that I believe is a tangible point of relatability amongst other people my age. The use of symbols and analogies is in fact, intended for this purpose\u2014to find a common ground that the audience can read or listen from.<\/p>\n
The issue of self-image is one that I believe affects all young people at one point or another. For me, it is definitely something that was heavily felt throughout high school and through my transition into college. Finding an identity worth embracing and becoming vulnerable enough to share it with the world is a challenge. Through this poem, I try to show that my faith played a big part in solidifying that confidence and authenticity of self. In writing this poem, I kept Mirza Ghalib\u2019s quote pulled up on my computer, \u201cHeaven inspired are my poetic thoughts, the scratching of the pen is the voice of a heavenly angel.\u201d<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t mean to say that these thoughts are angelic, or that I am closer to God than any other spiritually inclined person, I\u2019ve only tried to convey a personal struggle and in it, show that this is where God met me. In the deepest recesses of my insecurity, God showed me who I was in Him, and this is something I\u2019ve never forgotten.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In my mind I paint a picture of myself: the perfect mixture, Invent a me that’s in control, sophisticated fixture Have all these thoughts colliding in my head, feelings dividing Should\u2019ve payed closer attention to Those supposed holy scriptures If I really trusted angels and prophets and mystic teachings, I wouldn\u2019t waste my time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9538,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[873],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","post-preview"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/anasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/anasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/anasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/anasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9538"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/anasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/anasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/anasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions\/87"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/anasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/anasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/anasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}