I accept all of me
The Eastern me
The Western me
And everything in between
All of my experiences in life
Are valid
All the influences I have had
Have shaped me
Yet in the final analysis
I am who I am
Despite where I have grown up
Or where I live
My personality is not tied to one place
My interests and talents are innate
My humanity something I have
In common with everyone else
September 17th, 2018
A second book
Another essay on life
My life
With its challenges and trials
With lessons learned
With hope and optimism
Written with love
The collage of me
Is a collage of prose and poetry
The coming together of various experiences
And exploration of various cultures
Of Travel
Of connections
Of fellowship and camaraderie
It tries to answer the questions
Who am I?
And where do I belong?
It explores issues of identity and immigration
And the coming together of East and West
And the essential oneness of man
Back to my roots
To where I’m from
I left it long ago
When I was young
Back to my roots
To poetry and art
A place where I did not think
I belonged
Back to my roots
To the city of Shiraz
Where nightingales sing
and jasmine thrives
Back to my roots
Back to the East
Where the sun rises
And the day begins
Back to my roots
To the friends I left
To friends who have
Embraced me once again
Back to my roots
And it feels good
To feel grounded
To feel understood
December 13th, 2017
Collage:
Different colors , textures, and shapes
Put together in harmony to create beauty
My life is a collage of sorts
Various countries, languages
And cultures have shaped me
The base of this collage is created
With earth tones
Colors that stand for the desert, the valley and
The bare mountains of Shiraz
The city of poets, roses and nightingales
The city I come from
Over the earth tones are other colors
That represent the rest of my life
The countries I’ve lived in
The languages I speak
And the different cultures that have influenced me
And though these parts seem distinct and disparate at times
They create whole that is the collage of me
A collage in which
Eastern and Western culture are intertwined
Its hallmark is diversity
Its message, love
August 2016
East and West
Like two sisters competing
For the affection of
Their father
East and West
Like two sisters desiring
Freedom
From rules and restrictions
Sister East
Still tied with shackles and chains
Sister West
Turned loose and free
Sister East
Wondering when her turn will be
Sister West
Wondering if freedom has set her free!
Sister East
Needing to be free
Sister West
Wondering what happiness lies in
Sister East,
Sister West
Together
You are free!
Lida Berghuis
Fall 2003
transitions
in-betweens
neither here, nor there
no man’s land
not my land
not your land
neither East, nor West
between cultures
between ages
between East and West
no man’s land
that’s my land
between East and West!
Lida Berghuis
Dec. 9th, 2002
The scent of saffron and rosewater
Reminds me of my Persian past
The busy streets of the bazaar
The veil-clad ladies
Bargaining for the best price
The tree-lined streets of Shiraz
The entrance gate
Darvazé-Quoran
The garden of our house
Where the weeping willows cried
The large dining room
Where many a guest dined
The American school I went to
Where East met West
And my heart was won
Where the language
And culture of the West
Opened my eyes
To another reality
In a land far off
Where I experienced
The richness of diversity
And a door was opened
That could not be shut
And so it was, that gradually
There grew a yearning
In my heart
To know those lands
To experience freedom
Freedom from religious prejudice
Freedom of thought
Freedom to express myself
And not be afraid to talk
Many days have passed
Since those days in Iran
I have called many cities home
I have laughed
I have cried
I have experienced the freedom I longed for
But as I think of my sisters and brothers
In Tehran and Shiraz
I hope that they too
Will soon taste
The sweet savor
Of freedom
Lida Berghuis
Sept. 11th, 2003
Sometimes we search for our identities
Especially if we are transplants in society
Born in the East
Bred in the West
I used to feel somewhere in between!
I felt at home in the West
But I was not sure
What to do with my Eastern roots
Eastern and Western
We are all one
But it took me a while
To reconcile these two parts!
It started when I began to read
The ‘translated’ poems of Rumi
The West made this Eastern jewel accessible to me!
For the first time I was really drawn to poetry!
This was not any poetry
It was mystical, and touched my heart!
It helped me understand!
It helped me heal!
It helped me see things more clearly!
Perhaps poetry is the great equalizer
It lets us know that we all have the same struggles
The same questions, the same fears and doubts
And we all need to love and be loved!
Perhaps poetry is all about love
Love for the Divine
Love for our fellow man
Love for the noble beings that we are
And then I put pen to paper
And wrote down my thoughts, my feelings
My experiences in life
Writing poetry was healing
Somehow feelings that were bottled up inside
Were allowed to slowly flow out!
The Western me and the Eastern me
Mingled and
The poems were the result
Lida Berghuis
March 23rd, 2013
lida's musings 