What it took
These faded images blur by me, remnants of my past? Drunk, I hold tight to them with my hands against my heart centered within my entire being, but they fade. I cannot map in the dark.
And as if with a word, I am brought back from a daydream. I'd rather be here, here where at least the memories are thick so that in this thickness they would moisten my drying mind. Pour me a drink and watch me drain these canisters of every drop. Unfocused, a drunkard of life tied down, a clown to its hardships even when they are thy own.
And in my drunken revelries the customized thought of achievement, the stepping stone, the very corner stone refused...pushed by the subtleties of soft water to trickle down the back of labors dealt with uniformally become obtuse only noticed then recognized by a trip and fall do to my own lateral chess movements. Lying there starring at this stone the blur receives clarity..the goal forgotten..blows me back to what I am ...a dreamer.
A mental slave no more, emancipated. It took this moment of dissonance to free my mind.
Gumbo
Crack open my skull and pour the yoke upon fresh parchment, move it about like bones to a priestess or herbs to a shaman.
Decipher its decoded melanin and receive what many are ignorant to; our black magic.
Ponder the unsure mystery within the ocean that reflects the surroundings of the peninsula of sand that we sit atop of.
In the sand dry your feet, admire the one tree that provides shade...
Parentage..a shadow's reflection
You garnished respect where ever your presence was felt.
You wore a mane of silver.
You stood upright, but walked with a slight limp.
You could always be seen wearing a smile.
When she passed you placed your hands atop my shoulders and told me how proud she was of me, fixed my stance & insisted I continued to make her so.
When you found out how I was hurt as a child all you could do was hold me & cry for me because you didn't know how else to console me.
Statistically none of this ever happened because you made us a statistic.
You abandon your duties, you abandon your children, You walked away from your future kings.
You were not our father, but a lost soul.
You were not our father just a man incapable of love.
I forgive you, your cowardice, your expedient flight from your fight-less heart.
I forgive you, but most importantly could never be you.
It came to my heart crumpled up and rangled,
beautiful and shapen left to my wonders placed hands upon my wounds