As I walk through the large grey doors, It all feels so overwhelmingly new The first day of school here in Canada And I have no idea what to do The kids, they all look so different It’s the first thing that hits me, stings like cold water I realize I want to get away from here Just curl up into a ball, or shrink to the size of a flea They chatter quite loudly In a tongue I can’t seem to understand And are those jeans that the girls are wearing? Oh please take me away from this strange land In a bright, patterned Kameez I feel so lonely, lost and out of place I thought everyone would look like me But, indeed that is not the case The looks, the whispers, the giggles They think I can’t feel it, but I hear and see it all As I sit in my first period class I try to casually bled into the wall ‘This is Fatima’ the teacher says As she introduces me they continue to stare My mother told me don’t worry of what they think But in all honesty I can’t help but to care The cafeteria, a hustling and bustling room Yet I sit on a table in the corner, all alone As I wistfully hope for some new friends But this is a new country, a new school, I should have known I pull out my lunch, some warm Naan Which I don’t hesitate to eat with my hands The other kids they’re using spoons and forks What a peculiar site, stranger than I planned Its three years later, and I look back on it I realize now that our cultures clashed The quiet, reserved Eastern one With the loud, opinionated Western one ultimately crashed But all these years later, I feel a sense of joy I finally feel like a belong I’ve made a couple new friends And I realize they wanted to get to know me, all along This new land has provided me So many new opportunities and freedom To grow up and be an astronaut, a pilot or an actress To be whom I’ve always needed to be
