amani-alshaali_hope-dwells-in-the-darkness_2015
Among the weary mangle
such love resides
here where refuge once
took up space without solace
for so long anger held her brand
high and unceasing like a hundred fires
burning to the ground those memories
hateful to recover
as land grew flat with stomp and grind
as earth renascent ways forward blind
as people covered over their crippled hearts
bearing children in the dunking pond with
no soothe to weary start
here you go, running away again
thirsting to escape the penalty of your heritage
loathing in fearsome stride the color of your brand
without yourself you have no-one
you lose yourself the further away you stand
staring at the debris of rage
smoldering over former cages
now husks on the hill
statues of ill thought
black birds pecking wet eyes from
anything that dare speak truth
better you claim yourself
the saline sorrow of your history
and with it, the marrow and
the yield
as gasping you reach fulcrum
turning to plough much used earth
fertile again
sew hope
transform wayward regret
bring it out in another form
lend it wings to evaporate
bending with your pain you lose the ache
buried within you for so long like
a long chain dragged from the depths
is colder than the hottest fire burns
we are free when we let go
gather the wool of our people
clasping against savage times
defending those you love takes all
in that shadow play lies the surprise
you were stronger than you thought
forgiveness a reflecting moon
translating on still water
life too brief for fury
bring me the ripples of my divination
murders in hesitant re-creation
whom we once named enemy
now grey and fragile
becomes our salvation
as feelings warm through coldness
once enveloping our soul
ushering light
like a mother
watchful over sleeping child
bends to extinguish selfishness
in the arms of her wealth
she who knew nothing but self
stands like thirsting falcon
savage may the land become
soothed surely by our seeking arms
wrapped around the ones
we call home to stand
shining by the hearth of us
turning this way and that
by our regard we protect
from poison with
full hearts emptied of
darkness