I have been a slave
But I have too held a whip in my hand.
I have claimed religion
And denounced it.
My boots have marched sand and soil.
And I have felt leaves on bare toes.
My head laid next to yours.
My eyes have been blinded by rage, and cleared with wisdom
I have built the cultural wall I stand with my back against and
I have revolted.
I have won
Only to discover how far winning leaves to go.
I learned to speak
I have felt a heart break, felt it shatter in my fingers. And I have held the hand that beat with the rhythm of one mended.
Burned at the stake, crucified, hung,
I am reborn.
Hold the hands of the born and the dying.
I have been beaten and I have triumphed.
In the name of The Lord
I swear to god
In sickness
And in health
For my country
I take this life
I have fallen, jumped, been pushed, shoved others and found that they all look the same at the bottom.
The only difference is from the bottom, looking up.
Plead with me,
As I lay dying.
And regret for me that I cannot stay one more night.
Wish upon a star.
Martyred for the sake of martyrdom.
My body lays in the streets as the boots I sewed walk over it.
I laugh.
With empty
Open eyes
I breath.
I have cried
And smiled
And held the smallest life in my arms
The same arms amputated at the shoulder.
In the war.
You know the one.
That one that was worth the fight
Or maybe I was drafted.
But I am a woman and I cannot go to war
And so
You see
Time passed
"Very well then I contradict myself" I once wrote "I contain multitudes"
At once a reader and a poet
I look and feel a year slip down my face.
I invent things
And I see beauty
I self-destruct.
I am the most despicable.
The most passionate.
maybe I am the most nothing this world has ever seen.
Who am I? You ask, who has been so many places?
I am human, I answer, I am you.
