VICTIMS

Am I to show snow white teeth
@ the misgivings you render bare @ my feet?
You think they smell of roses?
Am I to hatch fire on wet wood?
Bless your soul tis fatal if I should
Strike not twice as did Moses.

Am I to speak of fame
While dwell I in a house with a made up name?
I can only but the sun praise
Her flock of hot tears unto us bestow
Falling and to hope she crowns an outlaw
Lo, when all's gone by the fire would sit I and chew raw maize...

Another day is another pain
One milder since the debut of this rain
Thoughts over despair and its depths do hover
A search for prey through windy clime
In wry patience that ticks not by heaven's time
Pondered however, smashed a thousand years over...

Am I to present minted shillings
@ the market of your misgivings?
These flaws find ease in being in than out
Placards above bare heads speak of indifference
Sleep comes in stretches of deafening silence
And love? Tis merely an omission of the mouth.


By:
BERYL HERMES