Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
Omar Kawash Oct 2014
But how do I communicate
a word that lacks an English translation?
A feeling so essential to my well-being?
One that this
culture
denounces,
dejects,
despises
so easily,
Without changing what I look like in your eyes?
Hesitation of true affection

Amae, I want to share with you.
A home, not a house.
The mother's loving concern.
The safety of knowing that it is okay.
You'll be there and I
presume you will.
And this gives me shivers to imagine;
indulgence of security.

But that's codependent
Check the DSM-V.
I think the APA is wrong.
I challenge over 137,000 who seem to agree
that my need for people is
disorder,
disease,
debilitation.

Because I can see through a window in my heart,
that shows me a world coexisting;
once realized
we need each other
because we are human.
We want to live harmoniously, in unison.
I want to care of my fellow man.
I am celebrated for aspirations
of massaging the soul,
fixing the whole,
dedicated to them all.

Why is it so wrong that some days,
I'd like to be on that side of the spectrum?
Amae, Amae, *Amae
Alternate beginning:

"How am I supposed to explain?
Feelings that lack literal translations?
Something so vastly important to me?

My *honne* that will give me the peace I seek.
I want to remove this mask the rest of the world deals with,
my *tatemae.*
But these are foreign words.
I can give you an idea of what they mean
*Enryo*, I wish I did not experience."

Should that go in, or stay as is? I excised these stanzas because I thought it would be too many ideas at once being discussed. Thoughts?

— The End —