Leaving Home

• Tahia Zia, Grade 11
• Poetry
• 2022

There are things they don’t tell you when you move far away
No one talks about your heart screaming inside, pleading for you to stay
And when you’re packing your bags, there are things you wish you could take
Like every corner of your hometown and the sounds that it makes

The people, the food, the culture and so much more
Are just a few of the things you wish you could bottle up and store
There isn’t the softest of whispers about the pain before a flight
Of saying farewell to your loved ones, not ‘see you soon’ or ‘goodnight’

You’ve gone to a foreign place, where nothing feels the same
They all speak a different language, and they can’t pronounce your name
And one day you’ll go back to visit the place you left behind
But things have changed, and you may not recognize the place you find

Your cousins have grown up and now you’re taller than your Nan
Everything is different and it’s hard for you to understand
Yet, they tell you to go out there and to be brave and so bold
But moving your life across the world? That’s the bravest story ever told.