My bones were swollen
My eyes were broken
My words were stiffened
and actions unspoken.
I was too deaf to see
Too blind to hear
My body was stricken
By a bad case of fear.
But my soul remained untouched.
Broken tears from a salty heart
slid down my wounded cheek,
piercing old scars and painful
traces of a distant past
and a not-so distant future
of whips and chains
Corrosive venom coursing through my veins
Like a silver-tounged bullet shooting straight for my brain.
Yet still, my soul remained untouched.
Even when my arms gave out
Knees grew unsteady
and the voice deafened all…
until my collarbone cracked,
from this weight on my neck
that’s just so DAMN heavy…
And still, my soul remained untouched.
Because of one simple notion:
One that the willow knows but the wind does not
One that the oppressed know well
but the oppressor knows not:
The will to endure will triumph
over the will to conflict.
So do your worst
to this bag of flesh and bones.
Kick my ears in,
Bite my teeth off.
Shackle my hands,
Sever my foot off.
But when the smoke clears, and the ashes lift
And all notions of time and logic cease to exist,
and when my sense doesn’t even make words anymore!
My soul will remain untouched
~S.O.F.
5.27.12
Soul on Fire 