(for huda)
you don't care to remember yesterday--
even if you were the one who took the
          wrong way--

just to say you're "sorry," and make your
          peace,
for we'd then get-off on a new plate with
         some ease;

where's your conscience? aren't you for a
         minute sane?
you used shout at me with all your false
         complaint--

never caring to listen, too often baking
        my heart so sore,
till you at last broke our bond, and more!

--ah, how patient and quiet i bore your
         abuse,
for you then were after money,
         and  without excuse--

determined as i then was, wanting to
         keep us together
as a family, soon to be a father and a
        mother;

there you're with false tears, and false
        argument all the same;
humbled,  i ignored who's right and who
        not, taking all the blame,

you didn't care to listen but ran  away
       with your  "cousins" in team,
and i was left bitter alone, just to moan
       and  ponder over broken dream:

and tonight you come, seven years to this
       day,
imploring with  pleas of love, not to delay

a love,  a you gone years ago: if i accept
you now anyway, how wouldn't it be
       down again swept?

              
                         -by Hakim H. Kassim.
                         (September 11, 2024)