Naomi: In Baghdad, Dreaming of Cairo

 I really enjoyed this poem because it rang very true for me. Sometimes what we are looking for is right in front of us but we do not realize this until we go down a different path to find it. This is what the main character of Rumi’s poem encountered. He was unsatisfied with his life so he sets off to find it in Cairo. However, at the end of the poem he realizes that “what I’m longing for lived in my house in Baghdad!...But I had to come this long way to know it!” (Rumi). This is a common pattern within human lives. People often go off searching for themselves or their future only to realize that where they were rooted is where they are meant to be. Yet they could have never come to this conclusion if they had not left their roots to look for a new home. This is of course representative of the hero’s journey—leaving home to follow a call for something more, encountering trials and tribulations along the way, only to return back home with the knowledge that the place they belong is there. It’s similar to how we can not know light without darkness or happiness without sadness. Life is always in balance and the way we learn is through comparison. If we never leave our home, we will never know how it compares to the outside world, and then we will never truly feel as if we belong there because we will always be missing the choice of belonging there. I think this choice of choosing to leave and explore and then choosing to go back is what makes a home feel like a home. You have returned not because of an outside force but because you have compared it to all other options and decided that it is the place for you. There’s no way to have that choice and ultimate decision if you never leave.