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Fire-Eaters Fire-Breathers
~ meek is not weak~
Drench each day in passion, I say
meet each day
arms aflame.
Burn!
burn beyond burn
blaze and blister –
what have we to lose?
Borrowed skins, all.
Ashes to ashes…
Choose.
Choose never to surrender
Be a blue flame
perhaps a red flame
today a soft one,
tomorrow a flaming spear
aimed with resolve —
believe.
Tonight an expectant ember like a
gentle lover’s eyes,
wet pelts in the rain
waiting for an
ignescent kiss.
Nothing is sadder
than spent smoke…
Burn, I say —
breathe tongues of fire
for women locked inside
silent screams
doused in betrayal
and eaten by acid
in the name of honor. Poised
for a leap of faith,
illusory barriers
tested and smashed,
choose never to surrender.
Blaze or smoke
sigh or smoulder;
Fire-eaters, fire-breathers
we were born to run!
In deep palms like
mothers of long-lost
tribes, we bring fire
across time and tide
desert and ravine,
night and day —
our children await us.
Rest a while
as we all must —
lean smudged brows
against a warm stove,
cool hands on metals
rocks and memories of childhood’s mud pies.
Slash and burn
seed and feed.
Midwife a new day
in which our children
look to their own truths
surely as sunflowers turn to the sun
Farida Haque
