Out of the darkness she appeared
Black pearl eyes
Peeked out like a surprise
A curtain of shadows filled her space
A gossamer smile on a broken face
Though just a product of poverty
Her eyes told a different story
A desire for higher glory
Ebony skin of Mayan descent
Traces of history so opulent
Threatened by lighter blood
Leaving behind ashes and mud
A life filled with Icarusian dreams
She plunges into a nightmare of screams
No choice but to live in destitute
No one listens to a vapid dispute
If silence is the voice of the voiceless
It a tincture of irony, be it choice less
Torn dress and shoeless feet
A fractured frown
Was her daily crown
Hunger pangs an ominous grind
What garbage dumps would yield
Each treacherous step a mine field
The ambivalence of just being a youth
As she navigate the portals of the truth
She must dance with the devil
Try to survive at every level
The ebb and flow of life a constant itch
A shredded episode hanging by a stitch
A magnetism drew me to her
An omen of my own inequities
Dare I admit my own fragilities
Dare I step into the unknown
Where unrecognizable glances are thrown
Into a world of skin and bone
Unstable as the ripples of a skipping stone
Yet I was stuck in a quagmire
Strings of the heart afire
Pulling me, tugging me down
By the weight of this thorny crown
Could I be her Savior
Plunge into her world of misbehavior
Stay tuned for Part II
Alfred Ramos
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/negra-black-pearl-part-i/
