ASMA MEJDI

ASMA MEJDI

SURVIVAL TATTOOS

I knew it 
since I first laid eyes on you.
I just knew
and saw it
the warrior
the beast 
in you.
Hands marred.
Blades jagged.
Face scarred.
And yet, I knew
of your soul
the tender niveous
behemoth,
a boniform of virtue.
I just knew
there was so much more to you
than had all those life battles
left of you.
You survived, I knew
all your nightmares 
and bravely stifled
your demons’
ballyhoo.
I knew
how hard an ado
had you – 
had to withstand
all storms with
pride
rectitude
and sinew.
You could see through me
the way I could see through you
beyond all
our hideous 
yet so beautiful 
survival tattoos.
THAT,
for sure 
I knew.

MY HEART IS A TEMPLE

My heart is a temple,
lost,
in the heart of an untrodden 
orphic jungle.
Mighty, towering, ancient
occult,
and caught in the wilderness tangle.
Feelings creep up its walls, 
some
lush, verdant,
and tamed,
others 
siren, fervent 
an' inflamed, 
roping me into their thrall.
As for them, my heart dwellers, 
countless it has up to now seen,
the best,
the worst, 
an' the solivagant between.
He who dares enter
shall never falter,
for in there it is
either hell or shelter.

HALF SELF

And what are we after all
underneath our mortal
earthy shells
but halves and halves;
a plethora 
of antonymous
entwin'd selves. 
Half blindness, half sight.
Half weakness, half might.
Half blessing, half plight.
Half darkness, half light.
Half wrong, half right.
Half black, half white.
The better half,
the worst
and the grey 
half-mediator half-traitor
oscilliating between
the cosmos 
an' our true yet unseen
self.
A twofold essence.

ASMA MEJDI