Lands Unknown Poem by Naveed Akram

I became a land of astonishment when I was young,
Mocked at, jeered at, my lingering breath bent my back.
Survival lacked enemies, bit by snakes I scaled my better life,
My names heard for longer than the animals, I was fugitive.
This wreckage from a lighter future went my way,
Absent I remained in peaceful kingdoms, it was ideal.
I sought for ruins my life recognised,
Not my hands, not my legs,
They had shackles of clay and rock,
The earth became tremors of lethal effect.
This lost world carried no future
And I was causing loss to everyone.