pride

I walk up to them 

but they turn me 

away; I listen despite

everything.

I feel it getting dark

as the chill in the air makes

my skin tingle, yet I stride

into the night.

I swallow up my

pride.

They push me around

and I don’t feel

helpless; still, I let them have 

that power.

My bruises never have time

to heal, they are reinforced instead.

I feel like the ground, always stepped 

upon, but none are to blame  –

Why do I swallow up my

pride?

The stars twinkle above

against the violet blush and I

see; the clouds veil the 

moon; electric.

The narrow ribbon of light pierces

through the dark shroud 

like the pain penetrates my feelings, 

my senses.

A result of my own doing, as I swallow up my

pride.

I fly through the tall grasses

of doom; the birds of destiny come at me

with their sharpened talons

to strip me of my merit.

But they have no cause to worry

since I give it up

with lack of resistance.

Needless, without question

I swallow up my

pride.

It is getting too much, I

feel;

What is the purpose of putting myself

through this ordeal?

The same as that of stripping 

a beautiful meadow of its

flowers – there is none.

Wonder; it surges through me.

I think I need to stop swallowing up my

pride.

It runs in the blood, this slavery

of the mind that remains unaffected 

by those poems;

No poet can tell me how to live.

Their music is enough to bleed

into me emotions, but 

what beyond that? Like them,

this story requires a bold end.

I tell myself – don’t swallow up your

pride.

Not as plain is the execution 

I fear, not as elementary 

is obliteration of seasons of 

misery; Just

close your eyes and if you see 

gold, perhaps your fortune remains 

untold.

Sealed, a great risk behind those lashes.

I don’t have the energy to swallow my

pride.

I understand myself, that expression 

of gloom; at least, there is some

sparkle of hope. The binding of the antiquity 

of my actions remains.

It is high time, it is now 

that my business is sorted; after all

it is time for reclamation. To earn

my dignity, lose the defamation.

I think I can learn to wallow in my

pride.