March, 2010
So many times I wanted to lay down this pen
and let the words migrate back into silent barriers
of a once broken expression; so many times
I wanted to lock away this literary voice
behind unbreakable chains with no way out
but every time I tried I heard you whistling my name
to continue on;
I heard you challenging every emotion
inside my creation to sing because what I wanted
to keep hidden was something that needed to be shared
and heard; what I wanted to distort
into something meaningless was something
someone out there needed to connect to and translate
into their own healing.
You encouraged me to write on
during times I wanted to escape my own meaning
you pulled me back in showing me
everything possible within the linguistics of my mind.
You held up a mirror and forced me to see every poetic feature
in the structure of my face;
a face of many tears
once masked by the fear of being seen
as weak and undesirable.
You followed me through days of darkness
becoming my breath
when I didn’t believe in breathing;
by becoming my crutch when I didn’t believe
in walking and by becoming my wings
when I didn’t believe in flying.
So I am living because of the reality of you;
you, a dream, my dream, that keeps
all possibilities awake.
© 2010
Tarringo T. Vaughan
