Djole

Tears brimmed as I heard the hum of my ancestors over the savannah grass plains, moans and groans evoking a solemn call to my soul for freedom.

For years, I have lived by the self-contrived notion that there is an ideal time to start living, that one must bury away all that lives within them until the right conditions to bloom prevail.

This notion surrounding a life deferred has unraveled me to the core, stripping away the beauty of my soul, leaving mere fragments seen only in passing as I continuously morphed to heed the call of every duty imposed to fit into rooms too small to hold the mass of my whole being - mind, body, soul, and spirit.

I am a fraction of the little girl I once knew, bright and bubbly with eyes full of stars as I dreamt the most extravagant dreams, not of wealth or possessions, but of running free so wild to the eye that all who saw picked up pace in their stride.

Freedom is beckoning to me, and whilst for years I have held the floodgates steady with trifling justifications, the waters that seek to wash over me, renew and cleanse, rebirth my soul, revive my heart, have grown to be an unwavering force haughtily crashing and thrashing, knocking at the door of my soul, calling to the remaining bit of my quintessence.

No more can I refuse the deafening war cry for freedom that cries out from the blood of my ancestors because, for this, they lived and died to know with assurity that I would run wild and free, no physical or illusory chains holding me, slowing my pace from the weight.

"Run my child, run my child, run my child," my ancestors cry out. "Run so that we may all run with you," they beckon, reminding me that their blood courses through my veins, so when I run, we all run. "Wild and free" was their only prayer for me, and no longer will I hold back the manifestation of their prayers.

With boldness, I venture to reunite with my soul, but as I sit across the dark silhouette I long to embrace, I lose all my words; it has been such a long time, for what can I say?

Coyly I gaze into the depths of my soul and the deep calls out with a welcoming calm, "Hey."

~ The End