I Am Human

They say light illuminates the truth.

But it is in the shadows, it is in the gray 

That one’s truth and character are tested.
Maybe the sun smiles at the lack of wisdom,

Like people smile for no reason;

They smile, smiles shrouded in veiled sentiments,

Hiding their disinclination for the unfamiliar –

Like animals inspecting their quarry.

I do not wish to be normal

(even if conforming is smarter).

I am a dreamer for believing that I
Can change the world

One action at a time -- 

(perhaps I have a touch of grandiosity).

Either way, I know it is a passing ill. 

And I will carry labored hours,

In nights longer than tangential sermons

Of elderly aunts;

Awake in the wee hours of darkness,

Whimsy nearer my bones than my heart,

I ask and answer maddening questions.

I have lost the world in sixty minutes

And claimed to have found it

(hiding under my pillow).
I have reached the end of the world at midnight,

Returned to the beginning 

To find that the world is round, after all 

(to my bitter disappointment).

And no one will dare to break my heart;

But sometimes, I want it broken

Just so I can feel something and know

I am human.

© 2014 Helena Malheur