Imperfect

I want to remember my youth

as man recalls evolution

a date of meeting high and err

This tall figure who knows

too well, what it is to be imperfect.

A higher being

who has lost count of how many times

she’s had her back to the ground

but with the grit of my ancestors stamped in my DNA,

I envelope myself in a cocoon of self-preservation

in protection from the heavy lashes that made

catcalls with my skin, singing the redemption song

as I fight the battle of wit with gravity

and still I rise only to fall

but in my defence, it made me stronger.

The days turn to years, a stack growing in their numbers

but I remain stunted wanting only to add decimals

raised to exponentials

for I refuse to be old

even if my body turns wrinkled, I still refuse to be old

even if I lose my sight, I want to see the beauty of my youth

for if age is nothing but a number

what then is time if nothing but seconds ticking

reminding me to check my biological clock

whose hand is close to the eleventh hour

and if not careful all will be lost.

Who am I if not a vessel

who's captain can steer expertly in the midst of turbulence

and bring to berth the spoils of the war with confusion

trying to gain a foothold in the market to fish for nothing

but fool's gold and sell to the highest bidder.

I want to remember that I held on, not surrendering

to the temptation of tasting the forbidden 

not fruit cos thanks to Eve, our eyes have been open 

to the game of hide and seek
if caught, the devil is the victim

but I am still a tall figure who knows 

too well, what it is to be imperfect

A higher being

who's lost count of how many times

she's had a stare down with lust who almost won

but with the words of the testament sealed in my DNA

I'm closed off to the taunts and jeers of hunger

grappling at my throat, chocking my sanity 

yet I'm breathing fine

cos I know that the journey to self is not by the signoff 

gotten from people around me

it is in knowing that even when I fall, bruise myself I am a sign for all 

to see that it is not the end cos still I rise.