Wallflowers

There is an angel wafting above [1]
This turquoise plastered roof
Who builds a wall from sorrow
Splitting the lovers apart
Blooming wallflowers at night
Black nectar of loveless sobs scattered [2]
Negra Pearls of Paradise for pollen [3]
Impregnating the waving blossoms
Of this trembling pen every dawn







[1] Adaptation from Emadi Shahriari (“Amthal & Hikam” Parables and Wisdom from 240 years ago). Tell me something... the girl on the right isn't she staring at the angel?

[2] “Scattered Pearls” from Koran Chapter Man [76:19] referring to the youth of paradise. I used this in memory of my lost children and the black woman I love. The Arabic word ‘scattered’ or MANTHOORA also could mean wallflowers, therefore I used them both in the poem.

[3] Negra is black in Spanish in female form I assume. I used this term to avoid the boring black or the infamous Negro connotations.


Background: Somewhere in Africa children fenced for no reason, for no crime. They are not even slaves! We give more respects to our caged pets in US than these children.

© 2003-2002,  Dara Shayda