I got taken for a ride
on a magic carpet full of lies;
the rain fell down like powdered sugar
just one drop in the sky but it slowly
built up momentum. the air was fresh with
happiness, and I turned my face to the clouds.
clinging like a child to her mother’s skirts,
insisting she could cut her own food,
I searched along the crowded walls of flyers,
movie posters, bright colors - a mirror. Happy in
myself. Until you came with your
words and words and words;
you terrify me. your words may seem (harmless)
an offhanded comment; like a pebble bursting
(harmless) black dust settles on skin,
wipe it off with a careless brush, like
something said by an idiot.
but your pebble-dust settles in my bones
like a parasite; eating at my blood, my heart, my soul
tainting my thoughts with the cold whisper that
maybe they linger with truth. Every cell in my body
poised to flee; like a deer startled in the forrest
stay deathly still, but one foot always towards the door.
breath in and out, a desperate life raft to sanity, stopping
me from utterly breaking into
panic. Panic which you remarked upon, so calmly
with your hint of disdain. (the same). just an old man
leaning against a jukebox, shaking his head condescendingly
at the happy couples on the floor. the old man
is replaced by a young one. A sultan,
turban wrapped around his head,
insistent that he is wise, you play and twist your word games.
I played along, the back and forth,
the sparring. One patient move in a chess game that lasted for
all eternity.
but your word-games cheat: they falsely proclaim
to poorly disguise your “real self”; your true heart shining out beneath
your cardboard defensives, your paper arsenal, to defend against
the cruelty of others. and I believed you.
I got taken for a ride
on a magic carpet full of lies,
and for a moment I was content in my flight,
(happy, even, maybe)
because the face behind the mask peaked out with
a smile; not a laugh, but a smile
and the face behind the mask was not a blue-eyed snake,
but a person. a person worth knowing.
guess your play’s been made. The game is set.
magic carpets dissipate in mid-air, stomach in knots
before a great fall. Check-mate.
you won.
glad to know I -
was never the King to be beaten.