Monday, October 31, 2016

Borders and Walls

Borders & Walls

As I pass along on the bus,
Staring at women dressed in fine garment,
I noticed that they sat at tables with umbrellas and holding shopping bags.
They sip on their fancy drinks,
And I see the homes that they live in,
Town homes shaped in Victorian style,
Side by side,
Like I'm in New York,
But I only pass to say,
One day,
One day, I will stop and be at that place of walking the streets of the town.
I return to work to pay for a dream I didn't even know I had.

I make my way into the streets,
I have finally arrived,
My kids play in the parks,
And we go to the markets,
The bars are no longer foreign to me,
The drinks I have sipped & taste,
I've become a regular in this town
And things seem to change.
Weekend after weekend,
I indulge in the likes of glamour and sophistication,
Weekend after weekend,
And yet, my curiosity grows.
I look around and witness the border and the wall,
Weekend after weekend, we don't leave the same spot,
It is as if I am on the bus again.

I speak to expand our horizons
But life gives me the option to gather outside of my comfort zone.
While shopping in a new place,
I am informed of a famous designer that is in town.
I drive to see and run into the wall.
Do I enter into this area of the unknown, uninvited,
And wardrobe unknown,
But excitement won't let me Stay behind closed doors,
So, I enter, afraid, but too excited to show,
I touch his hand and take pictures,
Day time,
Week day,
Things are really changing in this town.

Weekend is new,
Earlier, we travel there,
Meeting at a spot we hardly travel too,
Seeing a face, we hardly see,
He takes us into the new,
Further back,
We travel and a new bar we enter,
My color is gathered together,
While the rest is scattered around.
I gaze at the scenery and take it all in,
I don't dare to let them see
That my eyes is witnessing a new,
And a new wall is tumbling down,
Faster than I can allow,
And as I much as I want to stay hidden in my shell,
I soon rise to converse in a new place.
Victorian Candle chandeliers,
And old castle style bar menus,
I hear women conversing about The Derby and what hat to wear,
Also trips to London,
And things have completely change,
I check out their garment,
And post their style online,
I see trollies pass by
And can't wait for my children to sit in its seats.
I finally hear my voice in the new place and after that,
Nothing remains the same,
What other new places will we enter,
What other new things will we see.

The weekend isn't over
And we have already met new laughs,
We travel again,
While the evening turns into night,
And I am liking the early arrivals,
I decided to let it all go
And sip and be merry,
Tonight will not be different,
I enter into what started the journey years ago,
An uptown apartment,
But before I see with new eyes,
I am met with frustration and disappointment that would soon lead me to walk away,
Was it my frustration with the person or was it the heaviness of the wall that kept me away,
Did the border read, Now, you are going too far,
It was a part of me that screamed, you must go back, whatever you do, you must go back,
We turned around,
With aching feet,
To enter back into the place,
And the wall, finally, breaks,
And we enter with all colors alike,
And the music plays,
We drink to be merry and new conversations are lit.
Things were changing,
And home was starting to not feel like home anymore.

I travel back,
Week day turning into Week night,
My most stressful day of all,
Dress code,
I don't know,
Frustration at a high,
Further beyond the wall
I travel,
Gifts, we are greeted with,
Learning areas that I haven't expanded myself too,
From bar food to winery to restaurant cuisine,
It expands to a different scenery,
The crowd is different,
The laughs are too,
The only color that is there is the colors that we show up with,
We are greeted with different,
Drive in,
Different,
And my appearance gets us a greet,
This place,
Scenery looks familiar,
But the upgrade is seen.
We are greeted with drinks,
One after the other,
It is time to rate the foods
From one to five,
The environment is very different
And so, am I,
The borders are clear,
But I'm not the one standing outside,
The borders will be revealed,
And I will finally see what kept me away
For nine years,
I didn't enter into this place,
And, now, I will know why.

I learned of the different taste of wines,
From Australia to France,
What foods taste better with what,
But the rich doesn't have time for lessons,
It is best you learn on your own,
But there were no books in sight,
So, you sneak into conversations to learn.
Your power is in your beauty and nothing else,
Your knowledge is uninvited in this place,
But fear can't sit at the table,
So, I smile and converse anyhow to anywho.
We feel the stares of the outsiders daring to ask us how did we enter,
But we are unashamed,
And I am comfortable being here,
The night isn't ending, it only begins,
Like on Devil wears Prada,
The names are given before greeting,
A smile and handshake will do,
From conversation we will visit some of the places spoken of,
We enter a new place,
The stares are different and these walls are too,
But I am only familiar with its walls
Because of a Plies song,
We enter to sip on a drink,
My color is waiters there,
The women are fancier here.
I'm learning the garments
And the lingo too.
Every garment isn't for each place,
Cocktail dresses will be my next investment,
Just to sit comfortable in this place.
Depending on where you sit your garment will change,
One area I fell in love with
And saw my wedding in that place,
The drink is new,
Even though I ordered the same,
The night isn't ending,
But the clock is ticking,
Yet, we enter into a new place.
This place is different,
The head up is my color,
But he is still a worker,
The garments have changed,
Beauty is still our ticket
For conversation,
I am no longer,
Seeing a wall,
The stress of the old
Dares to greet me here but I dare not worry,
I embrace the new drinks,
Menus too,
Also, all the different new foods.
I am taught that what I use to shine light on is small,
And I am definitely not in Kansas, anymore.
The tab is closing
But our dancing shoes are still on,
And I say to myself,
While others go to church on this day,
The wealthy come out and play,
We are ignorant to ever knowing
Because we sit behind the wall.
We enter back into the town,
And my mind is made,
I will never be the same.
My hunger has grew and my taste has changed,
I went beyond the wall,
Tore down the borders.

And as I sit to write,
I begin to see,
The mental borders that have kept me in line.
I travelled to one area of Uptown,
Trash and violence seems to take its place
While laughter is ringed in a new way,
The borders are high
And these people are blind to see
At how they are kept behind close doors,
They are given one night of pleasure,
And the ones that dance
Are blinded by the ideas of the wall,
Even though they enter,
Without telling them they can't,
They dare not travel beyond the wall,
Weekend after weekend,
The same occurs,
And my eyes are wide to the truth,
But I cant help but cry as I look at ignorant fools
That stay in their place,
Even though no one has told them too.
You see them not during the day
Nor when the week day turns into night,
They don't even know that the wealthy has named it the ghetto part of Uptown,
When I travelled on the bus,
I never once saw a resemblance of the ghetto,
I didn't see what those with wealth see,
But you never hear them complain
Or force them to go away,
They just find their times to party
And times to stay away.
How is it possible to teach yourself to only march around one wall,
I truly understand why the walls of Jericho had to fall down,
So, the children of Israel could understand that nothing is impossible.
The mental borders come up but they must be torn apart,
In order to into a new place that hasn't ever been entered into before.



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