loyal – Poetry for Change

Diploma Certificate for my poem: Visible Shadow

Thank you, administrators, for the accolade and your hard work 👏.

Visible Shadow

My shadow’s always running,
Flying, skipping, jumping behind
My every move, trying, straining
Vainly to keep up with my bustling.

Hello shadow of mine,
I hope you’re not too tired
From the acrobatics that are a vine
Binding us together, hardened

By our will to stay together.
No, no Tornado, quake, blowing wind
Will ever sever our bond, forever,
Stuck together in the drama of life’s wind.

Oh shadow, tell me what you see,
Hear, and sense that I do not.
Let your tales be my lessons to be
Forgiving, understanding, compassionate.

Oh shadow, our ties are our sacred
Vows of loyalty, honesty that’ll keep us
On the righteous path of being honored,
Understood, respected, and visible without a fuss.

©️ Malak kalmoni chehab ©️

My poetry book, Perfectly Flawed poetry for change, is available on all eplatforms including Amazon. It was on the finalist list for the Canadian Book Club Awards 2023.

https://www.amazon.ca/Perfectly-Flawed-poetry-Malak-Kalmoni/dp/1525582518

Illusion of Trust

Illusion of Trust I’m Glutton for punishment

I’ve trusted before, and there was such disappointment.

I will trust again and recall its simplicity,

Knowing its extreme complexity,

And the consequences of another violation:

Distress, disillusionment, broken, not bones

Rather the serene heart, naive and doting,

That tries to compensate for the disconsolating

Desire to reject the atrocities visited upon me

Playing the role of one who accepts, but the wound

Festers, thrives in hate rather than acceptance,

Decimating your certitude in yourself and your mask.

The disguise you wear to play a variety of roles

That society imposes, from child, to friend,

To colleague, to competitor, to family, to enemy.

Few, so few, actually know and accept you,

That there are times when you feel that your life is a play.

A Shakesperean tragedy that ends with heartache.

What then, I ask? Trust, shattered!

What is annihilated in seconds, minutes, hours,

Takes years to rebuild, cement, and strengthen.

Never lose hope in trusting others,

For then they win the fray, leaving you fragmented.

Show them, through your play, that hope is endless,

Trust is for the courageous,

Optimism is for those willing to put in a fight,

And faith in yourself constructs your theater

In which your own rules fly!