I Am Still Rohingya Poem by Mohammed Arshad Amin

I Am Still Rohingya

I was born in a land
where my ancestors prayed
planted rice
raised children
long before maps named us outsiders.

We spoke our language
Without fear
We walked freely
We belonged.

But the pages of history
were torn from our hands.
They erased our name
from the records
from the law.

In 1942,
We were slaughtered
No one came
No one grieved with us.

Then came 1982,
a law took away our right
to be part of our own country.
We became strangers
in the land of our birth.

Since then,
our children have grown up
behind fences
without schools
without a future.

Our homes were burned
Our dead left behind
We ran across rivers
and into the unknown.

Now,
we are without papers
without a flag
but not without a name.

I am still Rohingya
I carry our story
in every breath I take.

_ Mohammed Arshad Amin