Here I Stand

I was encompassed within the sullen lust Of gentrified prepositions Incomplete adjectives layer the magnitude of My emptied valor I became entrenched in the touch The smile The tears Of wistful elegance This onyx cry Now turns into an everlasting echo I sing to these gated heavens Where visionary angels no longer Give me a second glance Expectations rot unto red herrings As supple conundrums Insist my smile Will “be ok” The most conformed lie, The most performed cry, I was ever beaten with … Salted whips bless this tenderness, Her one-armed caress Diluted into illicit “flawlessness” And I would have digressed But, I became stronger When she yelled at my infantile stance Hunchback of forbidden damns Burying our luminescent memories In fear’s corrupted sands My vulnerable love Now life sentenced She turned my open arms Into vindicated assault rifles As she cocked the clip Of my abused remnants Oh, how your abandoned grace Blessed my broken rosaries With silent goodbyes Yet, here on bent knee I still cry I still cry … For the return Of your identity All of your eloquent mistakes As your altered ego Strokes the girth Of fear’s liability And I dare you to push back against My scarred & humbled smile I do not fear you today I do not fear you tonight I will not fear you tomorrow No matter the weight of my sorrow For my poignant love Will always shine brighter Than your poisoned fear Of my tattered innocence ©D.J.E.