Haikus
by Gemma Mindell
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Masks a fragile pride,
Fears that joking at himself
Proves the secret true.
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Taught that tears are weak,
He obeys the shallow rule,
Bound by blind belief.
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Shields the world from pain,
Never learned to save himself,
Drowning in his steel.
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Wasted all he owned,
Claims his fortune is intact,
Pride conceals the loss.
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Teased the peace away,
Now a parent up at night,
reaps the chaotic seeds.
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Cold unyielding heart,
Weighs her sins beyond the grave,
Mercy never came.
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Small man, giant rage,
Conquers fear by inflicting
Pain he used to feel.
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Maps the whole design,
Mistakes knowledge for divine,
Mortal playing God.
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Reads of sacred light,
Turns the pages full of truth,
Grasps no single word.
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Locked in black and white,
Rejects the undivided,
Clinging to the split.
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Buries haunted years,
Erases childhood mistakes,
Fleeing from himself.
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Walls out every fact,
Shields his world from breaking down,
Blind to save his truth.
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Fresh life blooms in light,
Shrivels, fades, and decays down,
Yielding to the end.
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Fled the town he knew,
Chasing away the dark crowd,
Found it everywhere.
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Judges every flaw,
Blind to shadows in himself,
Flawed like all the rest.
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Blinds himself to pride,
Fears his child’s victorious light
Exposes his flaws.
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Spins a grand display,
Crafts a life of brilliant lies,
Hiding empty truths.
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Job to job he drifted,
Now he begs for legacy,
Late for what he built.
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Clings to yesterday,
Unaware the world moves on,
Left in fading dust.
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