Biography of Pain

I used to call her "Random Tranquility"... based on the chaotic nature of her conversations and her disheveled appearance from head to toe. I would give her what I wanted from my pocket and withhold what I didn't, accepting both the giving and withholding with her own self-disarray and her obedient smile, even in her old age.
The border townspeople, their bones hardened, their tongues slurred, their backs bent for so long, say she's from Asmara... an Eritrean woman who migrated to their town with the traditions of the self-aware, and for her own reasons, she also knows herself, and speaks of her chaos... She speaks the language of the Shayqiya, or the Ja'aliyin, or the Rubatab... She has their stern eyes, their sarcastic tongues, and the deep scars of their women. And she says her name is Sakina al-Mursi, that she's perhaps from the Egyptian countryside.
When asked about it, she stamps her feet on the dry border and says, "I'm from here." I used to call her "Random Sakina"... because of the chaos of her conversations and the scattered tranquility that shrouded her from head to toe. I would give her what I could from my pocket and withhold what I couldn't. She greeted both giving and withholding with her own brand of chaos and a smile that seemed to pierce through the years. The elderly on the border, their bones weakened, their youth fading, their backs bent with age, say she's from Asmara... an Eritrean who migrated to their city with the same well-known traditions of displacement, and for the same well-known reasons. Her chaotic nature suggests she's from the land of the Shayqiya, the Ja'aliyin, or the Ribat... for she has their gray eyes, their sarcastic tongues, and the traits of their women that remain etched in memory forever. Her name, "Sakina al-Mursi," indicates that she's from the Egyptian countryside.
But when asked about it personally, she pounded hard on the dry ground at the border and said, "I'm from here."