Same Roof
We shared a roof, a table, the same four walls,
and still I lived on the far side of a door
no one had thought to knock on.
Their voices filled the house each morning,
familiar as the kettle, the taps, the stairs,
and none of it ever reached me.
I was in the room. I was not seen.
You can stand in a doorway for years
and be furniture to the people you love.
They were meant to be the ones who knew me
before I knew myself,
who could read the weather in my face.
Instead I learned to fold my heart small,
to keep it in a pocket
where no one would ask what it weighed.
I have grieved the things that happened.
That grief has edges. It has names and dates.
The other grief has none.
It is the hush where the conversation should have been,
the hand that never reached across,
the people I sat beside for years
and never met.
I was not only mourning what was done to me.
I was mourning the child who kept waiting to be known,
and the closeness
that never had its chance to exist.
The rain spared her the concrete
That her heart tried to conceal.
The lights flickered in abandon ;
wishing kindness and hope --
Which suspended in the emptiness.
His eyes held a long lost smile;
Of a knowing that flowered bright.
A breath, a gasp, a whisper
grew as they sighed within---
Dividing the spirit that held them.
***********************************
Each day holds countless possibilities
only imagination can sets boundaries and barriers
~ break free from your cage
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
The barriers to my affection
Are iron gates
With spikes that impale anyone
Who dares to perch too long
"I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself."
Ego.
It is this that makes or breaks a man.
Ego, much like the "dagger of the mind", pushes man to do things, it thought impossible.
It has been the blade on which many a man has died;
And it has been the step on which many men have reached the summit of their being.
It was Hitler's ego that pushed him to the brink of achieving Nazi dominantion,
It was Hitler's ego that pushed him to initiate Operation Barbarossa.
It was Hitler's ego that caused his rise,
It was Hitler's ego that caused his demise.
It is a double edged blade where both sides draw blood,
but neither are ever satisfied.
If religion says, ego is the reason man shall perish.
I say, ego is the reason man flourished.
Understanding and logic came to town
hoping they could stay around
They knocked on the door of a house
but negativity shouted them out
They waited for another day
but polarized thinking chased them away
They discovered a spot to begin
but prejudice did them in
They traveled to a place to speak
but over generalizations made them weak
They tried to enter another household
but jumping to conclusions stopped them cold
Understanding and logic left the town
hoping somewhere they could stay around
gathered ‘round the table
smiles match, a kinship
develops in an instant
when Trust makes an entrance
dressed in fiery blue
souls warm then weave together
our differences subside
as Trust sits down to dine
Inner
Mystic
There's no barriers,
Awakening dawn. unleashed
Faith's true love, today.
What do I want ?
What do I want ?
Did I ever think about it ?
Have I ever asked myself ?
Have I ever heard the voice of my heart ?
Have I ever asked myself
Where does my happiness lie ?
No I never thought about it
No I never asked myself .
Was just living my life
At the behest of others
By listening to their opinions
By thinking about them
Was just living my life like that .
Now is the time
To listen to my own heart
And to ask myself
What do I want ?
What do I want ?
A promise spoken
Must be kept
And time is not an issue
For
Invisible barriers
Separate an era
And in moments rare
Unseen forces
Intervene
For redemption
Of the pledge
B.J. Cuber
Serenading you with my sincerity
assembling praises in your name
your one glance falls in place
a thousand emotions it resurrects.
Dawn is the new dusk
you pretend and wave it off
but the beauty in it
like an elephant without a tusk.
I wander to find peace
to render apologies apiece
my state of mind eloquent of a mirage
and I stay true to this farce
reality sickens me to the core
bringing redundant conversations to the fore.
Dredging up new barriers
setting up new boundaries.
Parsing life stuck at this juncture
now I run slower
and a lot less hunger
our differences like embers
time smouldered them
now settled beneath the ashes forever
still flickering by power of faith
memories waiting for someone to remember.
In Her Wake
forests in the skies, created as she flies,
Lady Daedalus gravity defies.
Breaking barriers but not melting her wings,
she rises above low weighty things.
No Nobel awards, no late night talk shows.
She leaves us a little sparkle as she goes.
. for public domain and Nyambura Kariuki
https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1504777131640819713?s=20&t=x12XzC4eGNUTkdgr1pey-g
"I may not win a Nobel award, but hey here I am leaving my little sparkle as I go. I am creating forests as I fly’: Nyambura Kariuki, believed to be the first Kenyan woman to take up paragliding, says she was inspired by women who break barriers"
It numbs my hands
It frosts my soul
Plays with my head
This wicked cold
I'm petrified, angry
Frozen, can't think
Thoughts spin in circles
A mental ice rink
I want you to warm me
To melt in my skin
Climb over my glaciers
Heat me with sin
Please hurry come burn me
A storm's to unfold
Flame me, save me
From this cruel wicked cold.
Countless times occurs
hidden behind barriers
love becomes plus clear!
Your smile beams beyond our borders
Seeping through our untouchable air
Blaring through the beast of fear
Nearer than an arm pat or handshake
Breaking quarantine barriers
3-29-20
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