Before the Dawn

I was bathed with hazel-hued sunset flavours,

The one that fall brings to mind.

I never knew “dreams” as deeply carved as a two decade-old scar

Could subside with the hollowness of my vessel

Not knowing “real”, not knowing “free”.

Engulfed by the circling gears, the ways the world knows

Routines, conventions, aesthetics: I’ve deemed them all defective

Hopping on my high horse, in a stance like Marco Polo’s

On I went to a chase of rectifying these established laws

The inception of dreams transcending dream itself

Beckoned me to a war of self-hate and self-love

“Does dreaming mean being selfish?”

I mumbled upon the first step to the unknown;

The first step I knew was my own

“A pitfall”, my mind rendered, as a flash took me from chase to fall

A dawn that sets the sun has left me gasping not to lose it all

But the ray that brings most light sometimes blinds

And so a soul has fallen to slumber; dreams and faith alike

Dream’s line always lie tangent to defiance’s

And when ducks swim against tides, to even the odds

Would their wings make them glide against polar-molecule bonds?

And when dogs’ tails wag against the day’s deluge

Would their pants and barks sway the storm away?

But this, I ought to tell you:

The lungs breathing in new air would have hardships as company

The feet running thousands of miles would take bruises as comrade

A little bloodshed remains incessant on any battlefield

As it means you’ve fought, means you’ve braved

Not merely breathing out aged life

And when the jets spell “Give up” at the night sky

And this wilderness seems set on a perpetual ebon midnight

Tell the chains they can suck your blood dry

But you’re set on all your map’s “X” marks

To an indomitable reconstructed paradise

Amidst the roars of enraging chaos

Is the birth of peace

Amidst the whispers of complacence

Is the birth anew of dreams

Direness quenches the soul, that which forged all swords

The focal point of a journey is where darkness intertwines

As the night would be darkest

Just before the dawn