The Uprooted Souls Poems: Strident Soul

Artist: Anwar Zadi

By: Sara Zadi

Strident is my soul

Siamese twin of tamed curls

Strident is my soul

It dwells alone, its story vast yet bereft of sylphlike love

Strident is my soul

I button up my chest, my step is brisk

My words crouch and huddle within a 'she' who is not me

The unknown voice thinks, connects and ruminates

The actress who plays out its thoughts remembers poorly, expresses herself poorly, lives poorly

Endure

O strident soul, you've been mine for a few years, a few decades, scant tears and numerous sighs

Hold onto hope

My young and desperate, disparate, uncultivated and unfinished soul

I hear your stridency cries and suffocation, do not think yourself invisible

You are the icy January breeze, yet summer evening light and a soft illusory cloud

Do not seek shelter like a fugitive

Disappointment craves you

Gaze in your eyes again and again, define yourself, then nourish your soul

Run and leap

Do not hide

Feel once more the wonder of fear

Now faint memory of a past life