I will not
hide my fatigue
I will not
Crave more lustrous energy
That the media campaigns
Can sell to my
Mislaid imaginings
I will not prize light over dark.
I will not
Portend that protection
Or youth
Are solutions
I will not
Fall victim to thinking
This is paradise
And, it is!
But not in the likeness
some wish for
It is a heaven of heat,
Dust,
Toil,
And brokenness
A paradise
Of washing away.
I will lick to taste
All of the pain
That lives here
In fallen flowers
And unfinished houses
Rotting fruit,
Fettered hearts.
I will want
For so much
And the hunger
Will hurt sometimes
Like stones In the back
Of a sleeping child
I will resist
I will stay silent
I will cry out
I will collapse
My bones will shrink
Beneath my shirts in time
And whether I stay
Inside libraries
With dark skinned scholars
Or on beaches
Snuggling with shells
That once were skin
I am content
Or however I am
To be with
Exactly what is
And kiss the feet
Of those who have met the worst In this world
Buffeting
On the winds
Of an inevitable rising