Despair, a Kingdom and a Phoenix

The following poem is one that I wrote for the "I Have a Dream" poetry competition held by Young Writers. I had the honour to be chosen to have my work published in their anthology, I Have a Dream: Voices from Around the World, Vol. II. Further information can be found here. --Despair, a Kingdom and a Phoenix-- Daily does it pass before our eyes yet we neglect it; Too apathetic to care, too oblivious to take action long overdue It disheartens me that I reflect upon my own listlessness We saunter through this world, unmindful of what occurs around us Distraught I feel—yet there is hope that glimmers before my eyes. The haggard dog that meanders about meagre tin shacks; The worn, hoary grandmother who has seen too many a youth burial; The forsaken man, lingering about forlornly, invaded by inner demons; The ragged street urchin, loved only by cruelties of a loveless world; Do even these ‘have-nots’ yearn for what only dreams yield? There is a far off kingdom, beyond all suffering and inhuman malice, That rises up into the ether; akin to that pantheon atop a mount. Here I journeyed one ethereal evening, enwrapped in a gossamer haze. At the nexus of this realm, I found, embodied in light, an ageless entity. I approached, drawn to its seemingly attractive tenderness and it said: ‘Though you may travel, corporeal one, through immaculate splendour, Know that haggardness, death, demons and cruelty abound in your world. However, hearken now to me, for I deliver an olive branch—deep within Your dying flame, indeed, within that great inflamed bonfire of mortality Stands an obelisk of hope and of dreams; a monolith that rises for freedom.’ And from this, I awoke, brimming with divine lucidity, The path I choose now, is the path that trails with heavenly benediction Like the rain that washes away the filth on the street, anew is my spirit. A message embosomed to my breast, soars above all evils of man— And this I bequeath to those begotten from flames of a resurrected phoenix.