In Your Image

 

I have seen fragments of eternity in the smile of an Afrikan face

Contented by the chance to be visible in a world that sees us

As monkeys that have just learnt to blend into the bigger picture.

I have learnt to laugh with a dagger in my spine so that the knife

Twisters will leave me alone just for another moment

So I can breathe and listen to my heartbeat when there

Isn’t a soul to share my burden with.

My own voice is soothing enough for now.

 

My mouth tastes like saw dust when I think of the people who have

Hurt me in the name of eternal love.

Feel my stomach as it turns each time I see you trample me with religion and pour

Hatred into my shoes so that when I walk I feel this squishy squishy

Foam rubber they call religion that seeks to keep me from feeling

Proud of my own strength and valour.

I have already been to hell.

 

My existence is sturdy and unbreakable.

It will never make you feel small or guilty.

It is there to remind you that Afrika is a place of spirit over the tangible.

It is there to remind you that you are because I am.

My existence is there to teach you that you can be anything you have taught

Yourself not to be.

We are the same person you and I.

Except, I am the one inside your mirror.

You keep gazing at me,

Hoping that I will be more palatable to your illusions of

Human perfection.

There is only one way to make me change.

And that is on your side of your mirror.

 

Frank Malaba © 2011