Truth is my Compass, & Wisdom my Helm.

I love you

because you are my father
and my sister’s brother

I watch you

as you trim the clothes off my dying grandmother
and reach for the thighs of my unborn daughter

I pray for you

with voodoo, hoping to heal the undue
middle passage we are stuck thru

We know you

she kicks and rips my uterus
retreating your world, she is generous

They write of you

most handsome, in barbaric ways
a man, too greedy for his praise

I worry about you

many nights I’ve bled, after your bittersweet visit
knowing my terror is a desired requisite

You

you are a loyal patriot,
and I am your opiate

I no longer love you

when you love truly, the most soporific Amerikan wine
cannot numb the pain of a scalpel teetering up your spine

In honor of my lost love for you

I will live my life in tribute of your death
a solemn chore, until my very last breath