Hell Is A Place Above Ground | Stefn Sylvester Anyatonwu

POEM 206: HELL IS A PLACE ABOVE GROUND

can you remember when you had that gentle, modest,
natural innocence
before the erosion of isms
stripped it away?

can you remember when you hit the street
clad in nudity and laughter
dancing in the rain and chasing butterflies
before the heat of religion melted it away?

can you remember when the dim light of everything
that illuminated your dreams
rose like sea levels in the hearts of friends
under the aesthetic moon
before the storm washed it away?

can you remember when you stare at the rising sun
in sheer awe and amusement
as it crawl from the horizon
into the sky
before the wind of tribalism blew it away?

now we don't know where we are,
no green fields, no grin real,
the blazing sun shine no longer
on everything we do,
all over the cardinal, cold tundra of hatred from people
knock off our eyelids
and leave our eyes to the dust of class, race, tribe, religion,
gender equality, sexual orientation

like magma underground
we burn down our eden on ground
and yearn for Paradise above ground,
but hell is a place above ground
you, I, all of us, devils in para-dice

playing games with our lives

#365DaysOfPoetry
#Pengician
#SSA

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