DOB

black-boy-street-art-CopyThe Thirty-Ninth Song

            Written April 27, 2015

 

Time only pauses but for one day

and it is during this stillness of life that I take

the time to find my own reflection  through

the shadows of yesterday,  It is during this hesitance

that I log my thoughts into the journals

of tomorrow.

 

Years ago when I was the mirror of innocence,

I used to celebrate this day as if

the tomorrow I stand within today was miles away.

My mind would always sway

in a way that made me temporarily

rest the stranglehold poverty had over me.

 

I would always play to the many amusements of the world

Just long enough to drown out the loud

cries of shattered dreams around me.

I saw the tears, but pretended to be blind

to the fears within me, but that didn’t mean

they weren’t there.

 

I was just a child back then, but time

still only paused  but for one day.  It was always a moment

that allowed me to smile and roam through

the streets of life freely without sacrifice,

but that didn’t mean the sacrifice wasn’t needed.

 

Today, as I celebrate the brink of a new decade

in my life, I applaud my own growth as a child

who found away to smile through the challenges

that faced me.  I highlight all the times

my adolescence was bullied by prejudice.

 

Still somehow, I was able to rise above

the difference of my skin and prosper.   I recognize

my young adulthood when homophobia

threatened paralyze my mind

into a self-hatred .

 

Still somehow, I was able to become

a complete man accomplished; a married man

defined and a poetic man inspired.  Time only pauses but for one day,

and on this day, my day of birth, I salute

the next chapter as my time on this earth

moves forth.

 

 

© 2015

Tarringo T. Vaughan

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