Photo credit: Steve Halama 

“Can I love myself, without feeling, I am too much for the world?

I am too much into myself:

“Can I walk with my head high, feeling safe, unafraid,

Like I have won a beautiful and grand prize?

Because you gave me the gift of my miraculous life;

“Can my tears fall openly—without shame?”

When my heart ache and life seem not the same,

In the matrix of your ideology game,

“Can I smile sweetly without pretense?”

And feel as if you are with me, until the very end:

Can I be silent, very silent, as I wish to be:

To thank my mother, all mothers—who prayed,

Cared, loved me—us despite in their displeased,

During the journey of self-discovery—to find myself;

“Can I thank the God of breath now?”

My daddy who is the beginning and the end,

As you read these words:  May peace reign within,

Morning, noon, night, as this poetic piece end.

Empress Journee