Across My Heart

There are words, unspoken, deep within my heart�"
like an unclaimed body,
abandoned, undefined, unwanted,
with no one to call its own.

Today,
if you wish, I will tell you everything.
Will you listen?

Will you listen
to the bird imprisoned in the cage of my blood,
striking against its bars
day after day,
in an endless protest?

Will you listen
as lotuses of fire bloom, moment after moment,
upon the river of humanity?
As beneath a star-studded sky,
bullets fall like rain
and explosions hold sway?

Then lend me your ear.
Listen to my heart.

Can you hear?

Men in flowing robes,
with beards upon their faces,
brokers of faith and power,
seek to erase my poetry.

With their grotesque cries,
they cloud the history of legends,
distorting what must be remembered.

Amid their clamour and frenzy,
they gather together�"
and then, bombs in hand,
they destroy the lives of my children.

They seek to confine
the map of my country
within the fences of communal hatred,
and surrender its destiny
to the hands of a tyrant.

And then�"

Let Khoka call out once more.

Listen.

Lend your ear.

Can you hear?

Something has begun to tremble
across my heart.

Something long buried
has begun to stir.