Tribute to Asifa
A-ll grey and weathered on the valley and before
s-he was gone once and all, the sky had trembled
i-ndented grass flowers bent down to wipe tears from the night before
f-allen birds, stunned at human treachery,
a-ltered the horizon forever
After I write this acrostic verse above
poetry wants to part ways —
what is the need for rhyme and worse,
where shall we keep our vices and smirks
if this should be the way of our conscience
Asifa, the girl who's just a face now
Asifa, who could be my child today
if I chose to birth her in another life
Asifa, who took the horse out to graze, then
— the dew fell, night shivered, she was gone
I'm calling poetry back to service
I'm seeing through Asifa's eyes to see all wrongs
I'm holding hands with my people
children mothers rebels lovers
I'm singing: no longer suffer, Asifa, my girl
I'm freeing the words to rise free like birds
