We Did Good?
Blood flowed like infinite silk
An artwork on gravel
Stemming from a sprawled human
Barely breathing in – and then out
More labored; weaker heartbeat
I feel the pain, pain of a child, pain of the dying
Indescribable excruciating pain.
A holy anger rises within me
I feel your pain, I feel you mourn
I groan along with you
Your spirit one with mine
Why the hunger, pain, hate
The heart of man so desperately wicked.
You said it, you knew it
You told us
Showed us a better way
Bled to make us change
I am keeling and flipping
The hungry remain, we feed and feed
Like a sand pit
Open mouths forever remain.
The poor will always be with you
We feed, we donate, and we go
But the prince of this world wages a war against us
We persist, focusing our passion on doing good
We fight on, because we know
On the last day, the victory is ours.
Hope
Freedom, since I have never seen you,
I am not sure what I am looking for.
Sunshine, I have heard of your brilliance and warmth
But my cold heart has never felt your touch.
Color, so vibrant and beautiful, tales I have been told
But I don’t know what that means
Dreams, all I know is darkness and horror.
Angels, bright and majestic
Will you free me from this prison?
This place that has ever felt foreign
Though I have spent my whole life in its embrace
This cold diamond has never been my mother
Though the only existence I have known,
Its solace has never reached my heart.
I know there is so much out there,
Another existence perhaps
Life, life I have never lived
I want to live life, I want to see the light, feel the warmth
Experience love, joy, laughter, happiness
Won’t you be my release? Won’t you take me away?
Won’t you take me home?
For this existence is not my home.
Debra Ayis is a Nigerian born, but New York-based writer and poet. She has been published in over 100 anthologies, magazines, journals and devotionals in a number of countries and has been awarded for her work. Her two books; “Thoughts and Memories: A Collection of Poetry” and “Awaiting Dawn: Echoes of a Haunted Soul” are now available online as e-books. She is a volunteer contributor to Our Daily Bread’s youth branch YMI (Why am I?) and was most recently published in “Life at a Crossroads”, the City University of New York (CUNY) Killens Review of Arts & Letters – Fall/Winter 2019; her website is www.valiantscribe.com.
Heart of Flesh Literary Journal 