Where I came from
I’m from thousands of islands,
beaches and mountains,
hundreds of tribes and words,
the union of many ancestries.

I’m from the slopes,
morning tweets and night crickets,
cool breezes and petrichor,
abode next to a cornfield.

In my bedroom was a cupboard
saving stories in pictures,
keeping fairy tales,
and Agatha Christie’s misteries.

In my desk drawer were diaries,
recording every second —
recitals of my days.

Those journals were the ear to my minds,
the home of my words and songs,
the haunt of my imaginations,
the place where I trusted my dreams.
-Kartika Lestari-