Saturday, 04 February 2012
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Behind The White Picket Fences PDF Print E-mail
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POETRY | By Cheryl Antao-Xavier
 
When tyrant force upon free spirit
Submerges it to hidden depths
Of the silence of its soul,
There it quivers awhile and plays dead,
Wearied by the shaming slurs,
 
The steady stripping of humanity
Every fresh indignity,
Hammers and moulds,
To what is sub-human.
 
The body ceases to be its own
And submits to bondage,
Assuming an endless sentence
Of servitude unappreciated
 
In a prison that some call home
A trap with no escape.
  
So many are they
Who live in pained silence
 
Scores upon scores of faceless bodies
Within the white picket fences
And curtained windows
Hiding behind fake facades
That conceal the reality of
Ravaged souls bent and broken
De-sexed and degraded.
 
Yet in the stillness of its soul 
A secret life thrives
The spirit, alive, escapes surreptitiously
Flying in the face of tyranny
To soar in a dream of pure ecstasy
Where jailors die and prisoners are freed
 
To rise weightless
In beauty and grace revived.
Such stolen moments of joy
So precious, so sustaining
Breathes life-giving hope
To a tortured soul. 

- From the book Dance of the Peacock, available through In Our Words 

 
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