Held Captive

It was your Captivity
that held me down
and spread the blackness
through my soul like a
subtle poison.
Something in the crucible of your voice
scorched with pain…
Your words
stripped naked with living…

Chained me.

Whipped me.

Gave me the scars of a lifetime.
Cut my heart out
Stole it from my SELF
And raped it…

Spat on it.

I was the object of desecration
trying to survive in a world
that smothered my race
My sex
My freedom…

And I cried at the desire
To deny what I was,
My body wracked
With the torturous words of
Traitor
Judas
Savior

And yes, my tears poured before you
like sweat
beading up on a black body
parched with thirst...
Locked in the hull
of a stinking ship.

I felt the iron chew my flesh
And make it rot.
Then I became Iron-
Cold and Unyielding…
an element of Earth
chaining down Spirit.

As the manacles fell
And turned to dust
I wept for my freedom.
Wept for your freedom
and knew without doubt
that once again I was captive.

A slave to your exposure,
A victim to your darkness,
And a part of the iron
that holds you close
And gives you pain.