‘Be patient’
‘Simply agree and smile’
‘Try to understand’
These words
These words, a mantra
These words her song
These words her laws
These words her chains
These words her unending pain
She questions herself
Why does it matter
Why does it bother her
Why, why, why
She searches
Her knees and hands
Scratched and bruised
She searches
Her eyes long tired
Her body frail
Her soul depleted
… Revelation comes
She’ll tell you why
For it is her identity
For it is her story
For it tells her journey
For it is all she can claim
For it is she
It is her, it is her!
It is all she is
She can no longer be patient
She can no longer just agree and smile
She has understood
Understand that when death arrives
Her name shall be unveiled on the headstone
Understand that when death knocks
Her name shall be called and mourned
Understand that when death enters
Her name is all that shall remain
So write her name
Her name: a Right
Her name: a rite of passage
“Melissa”
No
“Milisa”
No
“Meliza”
No
“Malaza”
No
I am Meleza
Meleza
Nothing else, just that.
© Meleza Jali
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Matriculant 2017
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