Here and Now

I had a dream once.
It was real.
I had a dream once.
It was alive.
I stepped across my boundary of fear.
You met me on the other side.
My breath was warm and sweet when it met yours.
Yours were the most comforting eyes.

I had a voice once.
It was like a gentle waterfall.
I had a voice once.
It was soft as cotton wool.
I took it and soothed your brow when it burned.
You smiled with relief and brushed my cheek with your
Receptive hands.
Our eyes symphonised in silent conversation.

I wrote a song once.
It spoke of the quittance of our affection.
I wrote a song once.
No one could sing it but you.
It plays in the trees and the grass when I walk in silence.
It is embedded in the clods of earth that prostrate
Themselves as I walk and crunch them to get to
Your front porch.

I have a poem now.
It is as real as you and I.
I have a poem now.
It is entangled in my dreadlocks.
It oozes out of my scalp to embalm
Each strand of hair so when you run your
Fingers through my hair,
You hear its whispers as it rustles
Enchanted syllables into the space between
Our silent affirming gazes.

I have you now.
Here in my soul and under my brown skin.
I have you now,
Dancing with me through the quickstep of life.
Our music is the bellowing of disapproving
Patriarchal grunts that are archaically
Spiritually molested and seek to trip our
Effortless love dance.

You see me now.
Rising like a phoenix from the ashes.
You see me now,
Aflame but not consumed… just like the sun.
Burning bright and thawing icy souls.
You are the fuel that keeps me here.
You keep me honest and fulfilled.
Breathe with me.

Frank Malaba © 2011