Uprooted

I did no wrong to

Hurt my neighbour,

I loved him like

A brother, and he, me.

No god came in

To rend us. Home was

Ours.

The land sprouted our tree of life,

And our roots, entwined,

Ran deep.

If the home was where the

The heart was, then

That midnight,

Both home and heart bled

From every orifice,

As the virgin land (sown with dragon’s teeth),

Contorted in agonized labour, and

Bellowing in pain, they pushed forth

A new dawn from her

Torn up a womb.

That midnight,

No one understood the 

Wisdom of the barbed

Wire. No one knew

What caused the

Rift gaping ‘twixt

Bed and board,

Or what it meant to be torn apart

Limb from bloody limb.

No one knew

Why the sharp chisel

Digging its point

Into the top of my head,

Cracked open my

Skull, spilt out my brain,

Split my face,

Cut through

The bones and cartilage

Of my nose, teeth and soft

Lips, and travelling

Down my chin,

Plunged into my throat,

Smashed my breastbone and

Uprooted from my chest cavity,

My bleeding

Heart.

(No one knew what

God or Devil, or

What hand drove

The mallet and

Why.)

Still rooted, helpless,

I turned my face to look at

The other half of me –

My brother -

And froze in terror.

His eyes were hollow

Dungeons of hatred,

His face a crimson

Conflagration,

And our home was

Split.

Finally, I knew,

From then on,

I had no choice

But to rip out every shred,

Tear each tender fibre

Of my roots

Up from my land, and

Run.