Sparks Like Stars

by Nadia Hashimi

But untold histories live in shallow graves.

What a thing to say! As if a girl is made of lesser materials. Have you forgotten the words of Rumi? You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.

I was beginning to understand what it meant to hold my fate in my hands, and to know that I’d have to withstand fire if I wanted to bend it toward survival.

“It’s a messy business, having children. Parents are supposed to be wise and worthy and selfless, and really, it’s the other way around. Most of the time you can get away with the masquerade and it feels great. But then you walk off the stage and into the daylight, and suddenly the whole world can see it was all bad makeup and props,”