i can only break free
from the cocoon i have spun
with silk from the fruits
of my dedication and labour
when the seconds on the clock
tick & tock, tick & tock,
until my anticipated wings
finally sprout with dyes so radiant
and burst me free, soaring
with an outburst so fierce
that my wings intimidate
every other caterpillar
as I have evolved
when they couldn't

Face painted with shades
Makeup various in tones and hues
Your face themed in diversity
Often like warm sunsets of gold
Or with the shades of midnight
I saw you, concealed with glamour

Your figure dressed sumptuous for guise
In tux-suits, silk cuffs and dress shoes
Tresses fashioned simply to envy
Not a single imperfection on display
In dressing, makeup and looks
I saw you, concealed with glamour

Your dainty and painted self suddenly
Was purely wiped clean of colours
The blends of sunset or midnight blues
Now, with constellations of acne across your jaw
Dressed in simplicity, cotton cheap clothes
Hair matted with sweat on your temples
Your face now completely bare in form
Lacking glamour, all imperfections on display
I saw you, now exposed of your true-self
that I adore, more than any side of you

Gusts of your breath like a breeze
Fanned against my lips with each exhale
Your soft lips, grazing the chapped surface
Shivers danced down my spine
In a waltz so furious, my body in frenzy
Revelling to the beats of our hearts
Excitement almost dizzying
Feeling your gentle fingertips graze my cheeks
As you cupped my face, softly
Your eyelashes fluttered
Against my flushed cheeks
As a butterfly would against flowers
The creases of your Cupid’s bow
Finally pressed against my own
Our noses touching, sliding against each other
Lips now melding like seeping honey
Through a kiss so vivid
A kiss that only happened in my daydreams

with the clock ticking restlessly
as my heart fondly wishes
to rest my palms against your dips
the valleys your waist had created
full of mountainous curves
the arch of your back carving hills
there's no denying that your rivers
so onyx, bringing Styx to shame
cascading down your mid-back
each strand flowing so elegantly
my hands desiring to feel its silky texture
and to finally let our fingers intertwine
the twigs growing on our trees
now blooming iridescent florae
the mundane in you never existed
for the emerald in your irises
flusters butterflies as they flutter
their wings carrying them curiously
to view your angelic ethereality
which was, not so ethereal;
but more grounded, rather earthly
it is unfair to profess you as my angel
as you represented mother nature
you are my Paradise Lost
for Gaea trembles at your divinity
my Earthly Venus, you have captured me
under your trace of beauty

Your fingers swept
Delicately grasping
The Heartstrings
I never knew existed
The Heartstrings
I thought were split

After so much trauma
After so much agony

As of current
The string are now
Between your fingertips
You tugged
You played
Mildly, wildly
Orchestrating
As you pleased
with much caution
Allowing them
To stay intact
And not snap

Regardless of
How suddenly you found
my Heartstrings I lost
I trusted you to play
The same way
You trusted me to stay

Your fingers swept
Delicately grasping
The Heartstrings
I never knew existed
The Heartstrings
I thought were split

After so much trauma
After so much agony

As of current
The string are now
Between your fingertips
You tugged
You played
Mildly, wildly
Orchestrating
As you pleased
with much caution
Allowing them
To stay intact
And not snap

Regardless of
How suddenly you found
my Heartstrings lost
I trusted you to play
The same way
You trusted me to stay

Whether it was the sun’s aurelian caress
Or the serene strokes of moonlight lulled
Across its keys carved with much finesse
Monochrome yet its beauty never dulled

A sonata lightly, it hummed, reverberating
Across gently, waves of sound, resonating
The tune seemed to hush the grounds
Effortlessly silencing the cry of hounds

Each tap across the tonal stairs had slashed
The breast of the wounded, whom had clashed
Echoes of nature’s enthrallment seems to linger
The music still bewitching the conducting finger

Corpses waltzing to the nightly sombre dirges
Pleading to allow their rest under the birches
How the sonata tortures all that it imprisons
How the sonata torments all those that listens

A row of shoes were lined up,
Ready to be slipped on
Each pair unique, telling tales
It’s owner’s burden buried deep
their sufferings carried on

One of the pairs horribly reeked
Of long hours under the sun
Soaked with sweat and tears
That leaked from it’s owner’s eyes
And seeped through the owner’s toes
Exploitation and oppression
Tattered and slipper strings snapped
Which brings into question
Can we dare walk in those shoes?

Another pair was rather extravagant
Bejewelled, dazzling with rubies
The aroma of vanilla spreading
Through the radiant effervescence
Yet it held a vibe so ominous
Perhaps emitting unhappiness
From the riches that brought no glee
Which brings into question
Can we dare walk in those shoes?

Slipping your feet into a pair
crawling, walking or sprinting
Empathising in their shoes
Shredded from sufferings
Or stitched with threads of hope
What truly matters in those shoes
Is to understand with compassion
Gaining a glimpse of their wars
To interpret, understand and empathise
With “Verstehen” we can learn
And share our battle scars
Then perhaps, we can accept ourselves
And each other in solace
so let us ask ourselves, once again;
Can we dare step into their shoes?