Saturday, February 13, 2021

LITERARY: "Burned at the Stake" by Erica G. Ildefonso

What were the acts 
that prophets deemed 
as transgression against their faith? 
Was it the lack of moral values 
that leads to covet, murder, or theft?
Or perhaps it was the ignorance 
of the pagans putting them at the edge
of the cliff, that in one final flick, 
would be welcomed by the blazing fires
of the unwanted hell? 

What if they were nothing
but a mere concept 
constructed by men 
to shield their vulnerability 
and to keep them sane, 
that holding on to an omniscient being 
seemed more plausible 
than accepting the eternal oblivion 
after one's demise? 

I used to be afraid 
of spilling these questions 
so as not to offend the believers 
I have learned 
to keep my mouth shut
refraining myself from blurting out 
the words that could shatter 
the illusions of many 

But my silence endured 
a drastic alteration
the time we shared 
a common affinity
Someone's eccentricity 
could only propitiate 
the eccentricity of the same crowd 
And so we gravitated 
towards each other's warmth
For we were mad 
Mad indeed 
Too mad for this mad world 

You coaxed the apathy 
out of my rotten soul
You touched the nakedness 
I've kept hidden for too long 
You became familiar 
with my every parts 
Yet you never dared 
to sedate my demons 
rampaging
—for you danced with them instead 
you howled with them 
and never slept off their fumes

We could have faced the world 
unabashed
For what it was to hide
when loving someone
so greatly 
so fondly 
that we worshipped
each other's mounds 
Heaven was not a place to go
—it was the feeling already here
inside you

But I was not Lister 
to thank God for my nature
and innate sins
And you were not Walker
but merely a woman 
I chose to love 
in spite of the countless reproof
and reprimand
from the holy ones
with makeshift halo around their heads

So I was writing this 
not to unburden my soul 
nor to confess I did wrong
But to let these frauds know 
that I would rather die in your arms
and accept the blazing fires
of the unwanted hell
than live in the paradise 
without you in it.

No comments:

Post a Comment