“A gypsy searching for a forsaken tribe, a vagabond cursed to wander—this is the cry of everyone who’s ever felt they don’t belong.” A haunting, repetitive verse exploring the deep human need for belonging through the metaphor of homelessness—both physical and spiritual. The poem’s refrain “Where is my home and where I am going to sleep?” echoes through various landscapes—deserts, wastelands, bustling towns, and silent valleys—as the narrator confronts regret, shame, desire, guilt, and lost faith.
___________________________________________________
Where is my home, and where am I going to sleep?
What have I sown and how am I going to reap?
Do I find it in the blistering and thirsty wilderness,
me and my regretful tears, in all bitterness?
Or is it in the blindingly white and icy wastelands,
me and my shame, my trembling and shaking hands?
___________________________________________________
Where is my home, and where am I going to sleep?
What have I sown and how am I going to reap?
Do I find it in the bustling and noisy towns,
me and desires, lust, and greed wearing their thorny crowns?
Or is it in the vast and silent valleys,
my faith and I, destined to walk in separate alleys?
___________________________________________________
Where is my home, and where am I going to sleep?
What have I sown and how am I going to reap?
Do I find it near the Tomb of the Lonely Saint,
me and my deceit, friends and partners, yet quaint?
Or is it shrouded within the ashes of a dead volcano,
me and my guilt, my arch nemesis, as we know?
___________________________________________________
Where is my home, and where am I going to sleep?
What have I sown and how am I going to reap?
I am a gypsy in search of my long-forsaken tribe,
without my people, I am dead, as written by the scribe
I am a vagabond at heart, forever lost and eternally cursed,
though in case of self-hatred, I am quite well-versed
Shehryar khawar 