Hidden in the citadel of my heart
behind a lost wayward smile,
that flashes all too readily,
like a neon sign …
a honking laugh
warning of an alarm
since it has no home
but inside myself …
the castle keep
of memories
where ancient scars
of pain
are kept inside the dungeons,
too ugly for the light of day,
have made me
who I am
a woman, though watching tigers rend
the lowing sheep
looks at the harmony
of zen.
My feet have trod many paths
from hunger to war
abused by some
lost and forlorn
in a world never my own
out-of-place in this great city of life
depressed and stressed
abandoned …
but I found myself
wounds healed – though scars remain …
I look not to the ugly ghetto of hatred,
retribution means nothing to me
and flee its desolating poverty of the soul
seeking the richness of harmony
to inspire my remaining years …
reneging the game of fear
and its power to destroy
I walk a path
of simplicity
seeking the small joys of life.
This was and is a particularly difficult prompt for me. I could talk to you more easily of the scars from my gall-bladder operation I suppose, but I’d like to work a little more on why I don’t blast the world with anathemas and hell fire which so many do. Neither do I enjoy writing in the tones of sobbing lamentations.
I really do believe that if I can’t change the world around me, if I can’t make people be fair, honest, loving, unjudgemental and all that good stuff, then I’m wasting my and other’s time trying to do so. To me being combative is combatting inside myself the tendency to be unfair, dishonest, unloving, judgemental etc etc. And the battle is arduous, believe me.
Written for WDBWP’s Poetry prompt # 12 – Scars
Bastet and Sekhmet's Library 
This is really beautiful. I especially love the first two lines.
LikeLike
Thanks Barb…I appreciat your lovely comment!
LikeLike
Very striking and powerful, Bastet, and I really like the message that you radiate with the stuff you wrote that follows the poem. I think you are doing just that to many people already, and I am sure there will be more!
Now, i remember you are a Gemini, but I dont remember your birthday, so I am going to use this opportunity to wish you a happy one, in case I missed it, I am sorry; in case I am early, well, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you very much Oloriel for your wonderful comment …I really appreciate it!
Now I have to reveal that my birthday is in fact in February and I’m an Acquarius, but my ascendent is in Gemini and we talked about that last year I think! It seems that a lot of the Gemini characteristics have become stronger over the years. I was also born in the year of the Dragon and my runic symbol has been placed in Sagittarius (sig) or the sun symbol.
LikeLike
I renenber you and Sahm talking about Gemini 🙂 Well, then its like Alice’s tea party, marry unbirthday? 😀
LikeLike
Yes, exactly, now I remember the situation. I think actually it’s Sahm’s birthday time! So happy unbirthday to us! 🙂
LikeLike
Pingback: Poetry prompt #13 – Results | We Drink Because We're Poets
Amen to your poem and your following comment. I too wage the same battle within. Happy Birthday! 🙂
LikeLike
I think most of us do — thanks for the birthday greetings 🙂
LikeLike
This is painful but beautiful – and I am glad you can move beyond your scars. Especially liked the line about the woman watching tigers rending the lowing sheep – it’s a striking image.
LikeLike
This a raw and beautiful write, Georgia. I love especially like the phrase “castle that keeps memories”. I struggle with some prompts, feel I voiced enough. I am struggling with the letter to write..it is almost done but hate the old wounds it brings up and will surely delete it before I leave. So writing haiku has brightened my life a bit as well as discovering new forms like shadorma, elfje…{wink}
LikeLike