You may know our land today

By its luxury cars, twisting flyovers

and modern skyscrapers.

But we the natives of these lands are

far older than all of that.

We are an ancient people

who found a way to survive

the harshness of the desert.

The only luxury we had was

the desert breeze

under the shade of palm trees.

With little to eat

we fed our souls.

With little to drink

We watered our dreams.

For centuries we made do

with simple necessities.

Even our rulers knew the taste

of hunger and despair.

We have so much more

to offer the world

than malls and stalls

In us is a story, an ancient yet timeless story

that is

a story of the world.

A story of daggers and palm trees and pearls.