Vanity is beneath your tattered
wings, but it does not lift
you in the same way passions do -
the air in your lungs makes you lighter
with each laugh. The sigh
is what weighs you down.
I've seen your heart bleed for the boy
that never came home, I knew
he wasn't coming back. I've heard
you wail at the death of our nation - please,
let this not be the last lesson I ever learn
for I was born a student lost
in love with letters that form words, words
that build phrases, phrases that break
the wild heart I was blessed with.
Don't forget the birth of a soul
requires icy heat - the heat of our anger
creates steamy swirls swimming
away from our toes, a bubble bath
will not soothe us any longer. Those same toes
marched us right out of our kitchen
aprons into tailored suits and we cannot
look back now; what is behind
us is only a shadow of the untamed
imagination. We have practiced civility, mastered
diligence, and established a new art form: Patience.
What I see before us is hope hidden
behind fear and fear
will not tower over us because our heels
are eight inches taller - our feet are swollen
with persistence. Understand that pain
is not weakness leaving the body
because we gave birth to the armies.
Those rows and rows of armed
assassins would perish
in the face of our extinction. Mend the tears
in the wings of your enemies, the individual
is not as strong as the unit. We must whip
the dust into clouds of confusion - enshroud
those that silenced us, or thought
they did. Eclipse the minds of those who defined
us as ignorant and unworthy. Shackle
the hands that held us hostage. Seize
the eyesight of those that temporarily blinded us.
They won't see what's coming next.
