Photo credit: Fatima Al Nabouda
Shattered
By Reem Waleed
There once was a girl that lived in blues
She went through life broken and lost
Never able to find her muse
With her heart on her sleeve and her trust an easy win
No one tried to uncover
The pain she hid within
Time and time again they broke her spirit
Gone was her faith in the world
Instead she began to fear it
This black or white world was too much to handle
She was an everlasting flame
But they kept trying to blow the candle
The ocean was calling her to drown her soul
“Freeze your heart,” it beckoned
“Give up what they stole”
Amidst the unforgiving waves in the deep blue sea
She had a last hopeful thought
As if God himself had heard her plea
Looking up at the sky expecting the same old blue
She never would have believed
The spectrum of nuance now in her view
Lightening and rain and hail and thunder
An explosion of greys
Bellowing at her, “do not surrender”
Do not let them take what they do not deserve
Do not let them speak when you said to observe
Do not bare your soul to anyone who asks
Do not let them fool you with their painted masks
Do not lose sight of those who truly matter
Do not forget
They will be there even if you shatter
Photo credit: Fatima Al Nabouda
Hear My Message
By Reem Waleed
They say that girls find men
Who remind them
Of their father
That is not the case with you
For in you
I see my mother
This comparison
I do not make lightly
But I must say I make deeply
As the hole you are digging
She has already emptied
Completely
So hear me now
As I wish she had
And try to listen
Please understand
That a word is not always
Its definition:
You cannot show me God
And forbid me to pray
You cannot paint me black & white
And fade away my grey
You cannot put your weight on me
And expect me not to sway
You cannot hurt my mind
And ask my heart to stay
Do not give me love
If you will choose when to take it away
Photo credit: Abdulla Al Nuaimi
Give Me Truth
By Reem Waleed
Tell the man who is blind
He don’t wanna see
Pain and loss and heartbreak
Sights this world has come to be
Paint a picture for the man with no ears
He don’t wanna hear
Lies and curses and half truths
Spoken words that should disappear
Build a chair for the man who is broken
He don’t wanna move
Walls and mazes and barricades
Discrimination nobody should approve
Leave the man who is lost
He don’t wanna go back
Selfishness and envy and bitterness
A broken home long ago gone black
Run away young soul
You don’t wanna become
Heartless and cold and taken over
By this world turned so painstakingly numb
