Palm Reader

By profession I am a palm reader
By living there are things I just can see
I will read your palm for you
And I will charge you no fee

Turn your hand towards the light
Let me take a better look
Is it because the room’s not bright?
It’s usually like reading a book

No. The future isn’t written here
The lines here are a mask
What’s happening isn’t clear
This is proving no easy task

I can’t see where the sun will shine
Where have they gone, its rays?
I can’t see the roses and wine
The rainbow is shades of greys Ah!

Here are the curses
That have you under their bind
Ones that no doctor or nurses
Can help you leave behind

Your curse is that you feel my dear
You understand the heart
And what more than tear after tear
Falls when of the body you master that part

Your curse isn’t black magic
Or someone keeping a voodoo doll
Your case is far more tragic
Over the years it’ll take its toll

The duty you pay for the curse my dear
Is a tax with a price so high
For the curse you bear is one to fear
And there are no answers to questions of why

My dear your curse is that you care
About things big and small
And in a world where nothing is fair
It decides if you walk or crawl

The curse is that you think too much
In a world where no one has a choice
The curse is there’s no one to touch
When silence is your only voice

Oh! Look…the curse that’s worst
That follows you like a ghost
It is the one for which you thirst
The “Past” my darling, will hurt you most

Oh Go now, there is nothing more
For me to read in this palm of yours
My eyes are now feeling sore
I have to get back to my daily chores

No! Wait; come back, before you go
There’s one thing left to tell
Don’t go out looking for fairness
The only place that’s fair is hell

Poem: Benches

Benches… over looking daisies and flowing water…
Forgetting that of this land, I am someone elses’ daughter…
This moment is my country… these seconds are my land…
I am born a thousand times, when gently you hold my hand…

Benches… over looking daisies and flowing water…
I come to heal all the times my soul was a victim of slaughter
This moment is my salvation… these seconds are my last chance
I am free to sing, to love, to run, to dance

Benches… over looking daisies and flowing water…

Poem: Does Heaven Have a Number?

I’m looking for a number to call you on God
Do you have a number, up there in heaven?
I’ve been looking to call you and for you to answer
Since my first goldfish died when I was seven

I went to a mosque and I found you
And at church you were also there
At temple I became humble
And at a synagogue people turned to stare

You were in and out and all around me
It didn’t matter where I looked
You were at every street corner
And to your love I was faithfully hooked

I remember it was always you I came to
When I cut my finger or fell off my bike
To tell you about a failed exam paper
Or a broken heart from the boy I like.

I’m holding the yellow pages here
Do you know what section the number would be in?
To call and confess to you
About my own and the rest of the worlds ugly sin

Do you have a helper, I could leave a message
Just a number for someone to take my call
To tell them about the weeping ulcer
That came hit after hit, from fall after fall

I need to get through and speak to you
I have so much to tell
I need your number in heaven
To speak to you of what its like, here in hell

Poem: Alive is the Heart That Loves you

I can sense you by my bedside
I can feel you reaching out to hold my hand

You are still not aware it is now the soul
Not the body that you are touching
Even though to you I seem not to respond
My heart screams out trying to whisper your name

Even though you do not see them flow
My tears immerse my soul, attempting
To put out the flames of angerthat rage within you

You rest your head on our united hands
And I feel those bitter tears you shed
From those eyes I have always drowned in
Tears no longer drowning the pain
but nourishing the suffering in the heart they fall upon

I try to move my fingers between yours

To assure you I am sharing your woe
But as my body thunders with in me, shaking
My fingers remain so still

I want you to hug me now
Came lay next to me and hold me

The silence is killing me
Where has it gone… your laugh
That sound which revived me every time I was disheartened
Laugh I beg you laugh
Why are you quiet? Why wont youlaugh?

The stillness is too much to bear, despite
Please…please hear me call your name

We experienced in being together
A sort of love too precious for description
We taught each other the melodies of living
Hand in hand we walked to the centre of life

You are still holding on to my hand now
But soon you will have to let go
As they move my cold hands from your freezing ones
Life’s cruel laws must be obeyed

I will have to leave and you must finish our path alone
My hand will be in yours forever
And you will feel me dwell within you

Yes… alive is the heart that loves you
Even though the body you hold is dead