VocalEssence Chorus
Inna Staneva, flute

Homeland: why do you elude me, tease me?
There, my ancestors don’t know me.
Here my neighbors say ‘go back home’ to me.
When will you let me name you, claim you?

But now, it is no longer about me—
for this newborn child,I have a plea:
Homeland, let this sweet child be,
never torture her like you’ve done [to] me.

Let her always find her way—surface streets and highways,
underpasses and bikepaths, and she will transform you
from concept to community, from skid row to safe haven.

With each milestone, let her dismantle your distance,
until one day, she arrives here
—palm tree shadow, desert dust in her eyes—
and smiles, and knows, she’s home.
—Neelanjana Banerjee