I am the voice of a broken spirit.
My heart has become
a stone
in its cage,
and it rolls around
left to right to pinch my lungs—
robbing me of my breaths—
and up and down to irritate my mind—
making me a madwoman.
Its vengeful movements are a last illusion
of its beating pulses.
I am the voice of a broken spirit.
Night and day have become one—
there is no hope.
Most of the air has packed it bags and departed,
and I am choking
on the nothingness of me:
on the bitter memories of yesterdays
and on the empty memories of todays,
but not on tomorrows’; there are no more tomorrows.
I am the voice of a broken spirit.
You do not know where
I am coming from,
but my shattered bits are everywhere
around you.
Hear me as you forget me.
Dance as your dregs of life
become my choice gifts.
I am the voice of a broken spirit.
I am the pretty songbird
with a cut tongue.
My voice is but silence to you, for
I sing a dying song—
a suffocated song.
I am the voice of a broken spirit.
Mine is an everlasting voice
that dies every other moment.
Hear me as you shall hear me no more.
-
The inspiration for this poem is the movie Umrao Jaan, the 2006 version.
Rosemary Esehagu
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-voice-of-a-broken-spirit/
