Far from the earth 

that once held my footprints, 

the horizon looks wounded 

as though the sun bleeds slowly into an exhausted sky, 

nothing here feels complete 

even the air pauses 

before touching my skin 

as if unsure whether I belong 

to this land or to the memory 

I keep carrying like a fading lantern. 

Since distance has swallowed the routes that once led me home, 

I move forward through the world like a burdened human being 

and left wandering 

between silence and longing 

and sometimes I hear the wind whispering fragments of 

a language I can no longer speak without trembling. 

My homeland sleeps inside me, it curled like a child in a dark room and every night I listen 

to its restless turning, 

and the stars above mutter secrets of everything I have lost 

and the moon leans low 

as though it wants to console me but finds no word

heavy enough to hold my grief. 

People look at me 

as though I arrived with nothing 

but the echo of a nation 

that the world misplaced 

then they say I am weight, 

under no soil 

yet they do not know 

how the past clings to my ribs 

like a silent oath 

and the sigh I release everyday, 

it carries the dust of another life. 

If exile has a voice, 

it speaks through my bones 

who wanders farther each day, 

but still remains forever tied 

to his ancestral homeland.

About Shofiqure Rahman

Shofiqure Rahman is a 17-year-old Rohingya poet, writer and youth activist. He is from Myanmar but is now living in the Cox’s Bazar Rohingya Refugee Camp in Bangladesh. He is currently pursuing his bachelor’s degree in computer science at the University of the People. He has practiced his skills in poetry and gotten involved in activism from a very young age to restore the rights of his marginalised community. 

Shofiqure Rahman is also the author of two poetry collections. His writings have appeared in international anthologies, magazines, newsletters and literary platforms through which he strives to illuminate the struggles of his people, and inspire peace across borders.