LADY IN RED!

Brightly colored tulips.

Bleeding red roses.

White pigeons in flying choreography. 

Choristers in golden robes,

singing with voices beyond angels.

Diamond rings and chariots.

Red handwoven gown sweeping floors.

Groom cannot believe his eyes.

A wedding in December;

A Christmas honeymoon. 

Just the way they had dreamt.

Yet the man who painted the dream,

pitifully perching on the last pew.

How is he not in a tuxedo? 

Why is he not walking down the aisle?

How did he become a face in the crowd?

His lips shook as she read her vows. 

He knows it word for word.

Yeah! It's his own piece. 

He wrote it on her last birthday;

The day she broke the news to him.

"I'm getting married,

 I cannot keep up with the fantasy,

 I'm settling with someone else"

Everyone is merry;

Everyone but one man.

A man who watched his dream come to pass,

Yet no one noticed his presence.

 

His role was snatched in broad daylight. 

And all he had were his daddy's words,

whispered to him when he was a boy;

Son, sometimes the lady in red will dance with someone else!

The Melanin Menace!

The marks on our wrists, they could tell a thousand stories.

The wounds on our ankles, a million more stories.

The rage was extreme, yet buried away in fear.

Hunger, the least of our woes.

 

Such horror and agony to withstand,

that throwing us off these ships was considered mercy.

Anywhere else would be a better dwelling place. 

But we were slaves; men unfit to even have dying wishes.

We watched our fathers die; hanged on gallows.

We watched our mothers raped; amidst tears in open fields.

We watched our siblings sold for pieces of silver.

 

We worked our whole lives in sugar cane and cotton fields.

No roofs over our heads.

So cold, no coats.

We shared the nights with poisonous serpents.

We called them Masters.

And we dared not talk back at them. 

They stripped us in the markets, 

displaying our private endowments, as attempts to price us up.

They auctioned us to bidders; bidders of their like skin color.

Bidders with much dreaded hearts.

Monsters in fine clothing, 

who chained us to horses; riding for miles unending. 

Blessed were those who Death visited.

For no pasture was green enough, to give us a sense of fulfillment.

 No pasture was green enough, in this world of ours.

Our tunnels had no ends.

Pitch black till The Maker calls.

For we had no reason to smile, unless the master bids you.

All of these, we attribute,

to the melanin menace.

Twas what we did to deserve this.

And to see those we call our brothers, beat once more this shameful drum

giving the devil a  beautiful name, Xenophobia!

Just because we asked for bread.

Just because we left our homes, in search of a fallacy.

The fallacy of the land of milk and honey.

Home is not home anymore.

Home, reminds me of a place where my neighbor was my brother.

Where we shared the joy and endured the pain.

Home, paints to me a day where we take the knee at heart,

with our right fists up and our left hand on the next shoulder.

 Home shall be when black lives matter to black people.

And then to all people!

THE MASTERPIECE!

You're the priceless painting on the wall

You're the young painters bait to greatness

You're the best in the gallery

You're so beautifully made, you've grown conspicuous

You've become the center of attraction

Rubbing shoulders with the best of Da Vinci

The works of Picasso envy you

And all the nobles fancy you

I'm just one rusty nail

Journeyed through wild degrees of fire

Beaten and hammered into the wall

I do not shine, neither do I blink

I'm literally a ghost

Hiding in the shadows of the masterpiece

Tasked to keep your highness hanging

Even as your fame breeds pride

You could offer me a wipe

When sweat runs down my face

You could smile and show appreciation

For what I offer behind the scenes

Or you could look down upon me

And utter your disparaging remarks.

One will make me stay

And keep you hanging on the walls forever

The other will kick me out

And watch you crash into the ground

For though you're a star;

Perfectly molded by the creator

And I'm just a blemish;

A mistake from the painter's brush,

My imperfections herald the crown on your head

You, perfect work of art!

THE MAGIC IN YOU!

O! How I despise magic
Yet I never doubt it's existence
I've just been distant from the art
I deem it treacherous and deceitful
Why should tricks amuse the world?
Mere illusions and fallacies
Earning undeserving applause
O! How I despise magic

O! How I despise magic
Until our paths did meet
Until I saw the beauty in your eyes
A sanctuary of fireflies at night
And colorful butterflies at day
I could stare at them all day
And wish the sun never retires

O! How I love that voice
Like a choir of musical legends
With birds as backing vocalists
Your whisper is a melody in my head
And if I had my way,
I'd pay to hear you speak
You must be an angel
With wings concealed from human eyes

Do you wield an invisible wand?
Is it somewhere in your right hand?
Could it all be illusions?
Could it be I loved magic?
And I never knew at all
Could we call it something else
Something else aside magic
Or do I have to just accept
That I loved magic afterall!

THE SUICIDE NOTE!

If you wake one morning
And you find the world mourning
If you peep through your window
And you don't see my shadow
If you walk to the almond tree
And you still don't find me
Don't come knocking on my door
Don't come asking for more

I may have left for your sake
I may have drowned in the lake
I may have drowned in my tears
The tears you gave me over the years
When nothing I did was enough
When sight of me stirred your wrath
Don't go asking of me
For I've left to make you free

And maybe, I should say sorry
For the discomfort and the worry
Well, you know the rest of the story
But I'm tired of saying sorry
So when you peep through your window
And you catch a glimpse of moving shadow
This was me tired of trying
This was me finally fleeing

When you wake in the morning
And you find the world mourning
Order to have their tears dry
Do smile while they cry
Do know that I tried
And by trying, I died!

LET ME IN!

An edifice of true beauty
Wallowing in solitude
With walls so high
Denying men of the great view

A chest of treasures
Buried to the deepest core
In tombs of silence
And echoes of sobs

A lady hurt too often
By the overrated phenomenon
The phenomenon of love
Purported by men as phenomenal

On the other side of her wall
Stands one curious pauper
With riches on the innate
A heart as pure as pure

Wandering and wondering
Why beauty of such magnitude
Goes about unnoticed
In chains-and-shackles-bound

Would you just let me in
Get me just beyond your walls
And let me at least try
To unravel this chain mystery

I come bearing nothing
But a key to these shackles
A song to this silence
A light to these tombs

I come as another
Another of you
Rejected and abandoned
With nothing at all to lose

Let me in, mi lady
As one to dry your tears
One to be your ears
Only if you let me in!

Would you, or would you not?

IN THE THOUGHTS OF A LADY!

Should I say it?
Would it deem fit?
Questions I ask myself,
When I'm alone with myself.

Does he like me?
Are we meant to be?
From night till morn,
The questions go on and on.

 I see how he stares,
While I descend the stairs.
That smile he wears;
Lo! I already said Yes!

Will he ever ask?
O! Waiting is such a task!
Should I approach him?
Thoughts make my head spin.

Does he feel same?
Would he be easy to tame?
The questions go on and on,
From night till morn.

Is it just in my head?
Perhaps an effect of my med,
Or mere infatuation?
O! What a situation!

Whatever tomorrow holds,
I pray it quickly unfolds.
For such instabilities,
Suppresses my abilities!



**Inspired by Adorable Adlin Rawkad!