"I don't think that being a strong person is about ignoring your emotions and fighting your feelings. Putting on a brave face doesn't mean you're a brave person. That's why everybody in my life knows everything that I'm going through. I can't hide anything from them. People need to realise that being open isn't the same as being weak."

- Taylor Swift

Saturday, February 09, 2013

حَرَام

The butterflies shimmer a soft sweet white
Whispering a prayer to keep me safe
I once stood on holy ground
I once had a state of grace

The butterflies shine a bright blinding white
To tell the believers I cannot be tamed
I have made my own deals with the Devil
With flesh and blood I have bought my place

The butterflies are a blank empty white
For ignorance and unwritten words on my page
You know I'll never deserve a clean slate
What's done is done, too little too late

The butterflies glisten a cold frosty white
Could you consort an infidel bride?
Could you ask me to starve, wither and die
To masquerade as a virgin in paradise by your side?

The butterflies glow a ghastly sinister white
I am temptation, Lilith and pride
I wish you days of virtue, wish me dreamless nights
It is enough that we are two souls under the same sky

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1 comment:

Adelaide Dupont said...

And of course the sky is the butterfly's domain/dome.

You are very privileged to share that sky, as indeed we all are.

Especially with another.

* * *

The different manifestations of white build on in the first three verses.

One feature of the different strands of Arabic culture is the veneration of writing in general and poetry and script in particular.

* * *

I hope the narrator doesn't "wither" and die.