Opium Den Poem by Nassy Fesharaki

Opium den

Thank you my friend
You used it and I read
Promised: "I will write, "
Here you are:

I was a villager
Sent to help brother
Some may say child labour
(Let us keep far away from terms
Time changes meaning so; don't matter.)

In city, a learner
Sure I was too scared
At start; later I converted
Strong I became, bullies dared.

Our alley had a name
"Qalleh Chai", changed after.

At one end was our shop
At other, opium den, Hajji Jackal.

There lived a black man
To me he scary; different.

"I'll have him eat you if…"
Said mentor, my older brother
Hearing that phrase made me shiver.

I grew, travelled
My world is different
My scope with learning
By no means seems the same
Then I was a sand dune in desert;
Now I am a mountain; I view far better.

I am drop in a sea; its water is black
Fishes and its corals, the weeds too are black
My friends Africans, different backgrounds; most black.