poems – Page 3 – Stranger Paths

Stand| Short Poem

They told me to start over

But I’ve only begun

They said to change my course

That I am not the one

Yet I stand

High above the ground

I stand and I will not back down

Image credit HERE

Rain

Feet bare

Shoes weighted by mud

The wild dogs of my neighborhood escorting me home

It was a day like no other

Rain in the desert

Streets Flooded

Is this what we all prayed for?

Mornings in Baghdad

I remember when I was maybe eleven

I had to wake up as early as seven, rush to the neighborhood baker

He made our street smell like heaven

The fresh bread gives me warmth on my morning walk

And a lady sitting in the street

selling something to eat

Breakfast routine that I love to remember

Memories of early December

Your Secret

You don’t remember falling

But you must’ve fallen… reasons why you were born crying

You forget what you’ve forgotten

You think they’ll think you’re insane

When you deny your new name

So you shut out what you remember

A haze of a spirit entering a body

Energizing this entity

Your secret is safe

Even you can no longer tell

The truth from the myth

The Speech

I am the universe disguised as a human

I am the seed turning into a tree

I am the stars that you can not fathom

I am the idea you refused to believe

I am potential waiting to happen

And all things that proceed

I am your mother and your children

I am everything you see

The Stranger I Know

Naked

Like me

You were born for them all to see

Naked

Screaming- probably

Thinking why

Why must I cry

Air too painful

Consumes your lungs

…

See! We were the same once

Now, we are strangers on the street

My Title

The child that stood on tip toes

Trying to see the men outside

Through bullet holes- I watched

Much too excited for change

“It will be beautiful, like America… like you see on TV.” One solider promised me

That was back in 2003

When ISIS was a nightmare yet to form

When angels wore uniforms

When enemies were clear to see

When I did not know the difference between you and me

But now my skin gives me a label I did not earn

Not a’Doctor’

‘Woman’

‘Rich’ nor ‘Poor’

I wear a title that I can not for the life of me shed

But that is a thing I dare not regret