Have you ever been to a birdless place? 

Can you hear a crab burrow
into the captain's eye, or a conch
that swears billowing sails? 

Have you
pitched your faith
to unnavigable seas? 

Does the scope of starless nights
fracture your orbital bone? 

Where does the will to live
exist, when year after year,
loved ones row out
into the darkness, and only
the vessels return? 

Is that a seagull?
Is that a lighthouse? 

Are you awake?

Alia Hussain Vancrown was born December 1, 1987. Granddaughter of U.N. diplomat and poet, Saiyed Mazhar Hussain, descendant of poets Azhar Hussain and Athar Hussain, award-winning screenwriter Abrar Alvi, and dramatist Razia Farhat, daughter of Asif and Aisha Hussain, Alia writes with the torch that is her ancestors' undying legacy. Alia currently resides with fellow poet, M. André Vancrown.