Oct 13, 2026
I loved and hated
dared and feared;
the fear's always won.
In always choosing
self-defense,
I never chose anyone.
And so love lay
inside my heart,
locked-up and on trial
with tally marks on
prison walls
holding onto denial.
And now that courage
and experience
have let me afford bail,
the love is free but
on parole;
restless, naive, frail.
With how much my
defense was helped,
no-one would have believed
that locked up love
kept meaning mostly
shallow love was recieved.
Not only does
my love now yearn
to love unbridled and free,
but also be cradled
by the the gaze
of someone willing to see...
To give the love that's missing...
To catch the overflow...
To fill up all the darkness...
By reminding me to glow...
Though my love knows not it's weakness,
it knows not also it's strength;
crushing flowers instead of just
admiring at arms-length.
But I refuse to fault my love.
for the only way it shines
is by daring to escape
the prison of sidelines.
-Abdullah Alam