I want to write you a love poem
But how do I not sound corny, not sound clichéd?
Its hard …
But I want to find a new way to say to you that I love you

For you, I will circle the earth many times over
I’ll find words in native languages,
like Walpriri , like ‘’mapenzi’ in Swahili,
I’ll swim through the zambesi
travel miles and miles down the River Nile…
Sit with Bedouins in their camps
and learn the word for ‘fire’ in their dialect,
So I can write love songs about my burning for you

Then I’ll string these words around my neck
and wear it like an amulet from the Chipibo tribes
With copal wafting through the air,
I’ll let tribal elders inscribe symbols onto my skin,
that speaks of this palpable , tangible ,intangible kind of love

And then…
I’ll go all out and wear this love around my waist
The way , you creep from behind
To wrap your arms around me
when I’m washing the dishes,
and we’d be swaying, saying out loud
our dreams and our wishes
you purify my hands in warm soapy water,
my heart, with your rapturous laughter…

I want to wear you like comfort
like sleepy joes and ugg boots,
Fleecy hoods and cropped tops,
I wear you proudly like hip hop to a novice rapper
Or like sweet imaginings
Imagine J Dilla and Fela playing a game of table tennis
And they be smashing it!
Making beats with nothing
but breath and ping pong balls ,
you’re like my dipthong, like the vowels
where you can be ‘o’ and I can be ‘e’
we’ll drop the ‘L’ and ‘V’
and watch this shit to go viral

I want to wear you like the most comfortable flanellex pjs,
Then hold you up with pride like a rare vinyl to a dj
Then I’ll dance to your rhythms
hands clap, feet tap to the rhythm…
of you
And I’ll hear you everywhere
In all the sounds and all the silences

I want to wear your heart on my sleeves,
so you can see how I weave through life
With you on my left and my right,
Like badges of honour,
I wear you proudly throughout all the seasons,
Because for me baby..
You’ll never go out of style

And with you, I don’t even mind using words like ‘forever’
No fear that this thing will turn sour,
and I’m left looking like a fool for love,
Cos I know I’m just at school for life,
I’m learning, I’m teaching- the art of loving
You’ve got me fully enrolled
and I must say that you are my favourite subject.

See, I’ve had men try to control me , own me, disown, subdue me,
tone me down
Told me I was too sexual, too friendly, or too flirtatious..
My very smile was contentious
Treated me like I was a burden, judged me for my choices
Hey I was just learning to find my way, my many voices
But these men who were insecure in themselves,
They made me feel like I needed to shine just a little bit
less, to keep me in my place
Unaware of my own brilliance
Unaware that I am a LIONESS

But you, you celebrate me
Like everyday…u tell me I’m your Goddess,
That I don’t have to only show u my best
You will still love me through my mess,
that I’m divine no less and
I can exhale and show you
my true face
You are a God
And together we write the creation story
Every day for seven days
my skin chronicle these tales of
your tenderness,
every hair follicle bearing witness to this reverence

Every day for seven days
You part head from heart
Plant feet to earth, and give birth to presence
Then u offer it up to me ,
attached to a chord
Connecting you to me, connecting US to God

Every day for seven days
You remind me to be grateful even of that fact,
That our parents f%^$& up
That broken homes were training grounds,
That healers can emerge from the rubbles of verbal assaults,
That when parents use children as pawn in their war games,
Then perhaps, on some level,
They’ve sacrificed their own peace
so we could learn to soar on the wings of childhood wounds
The miracle and wonder of,
Broken hearts made stronger,
brighter by the scars that have healed over
them

And that this can only happen,
if you hold your heart out towards the light
At the mere sight of your sweet smile, I photosynthesize
Like Chlorophyll, you fill me with your energy and insight
My king, Let me come down on one knee
and chant devotion in your name,

please wax and wane your twin flame onto my shadows
so even the ground can be blessed by our Oath


I was once a gypsy princess,
my dress made of festival threads and desert dust
But now I became ‘US’
The rest became ‘Her Story’
When you became my king
And I don’t even mind g a word like ‘forever’
Because forever is still too short time a to be with you,
My love.


~ EE’DA BRAHIM

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