Meet Your Maker
You were the best of self once.
Face fresh as a newly struck match
Of fire that Prometheus did not steal from the Gods
To be so easily snuffed.
The darkness once wept to hold you,
Its glacial tendrils burning in pained, retreating cries
A combustion of ashes upon touching your spirit,
Scattering away in hisses tossed to the wind.
You were the best of women once;
All felled by the temple of your words,
A shrine of sweet, soft affirmations that
Demeter did not bloom from her happiness
For you to be tempted by the eye of blood,
The dripping promise of pomegranates.
You were the best of children once,
Curious eyes compasses to great and dangerous adventures,
A caution no better felt than the roguish grin
That settled under the wide brim of your paper hat.
Doomed be Poseidon and his raging oceans
As you crossed the sea on nothing but your wooden raft.
But he did not quell the sea for you to see,
Only ships launched into indecipherable futures,
Worlds that have not yet been mapped.
You were the best of champions once,
But you no longer care for the gold
You see flitting across your neck
As if in mockery of the sun.
Helios does not drive his chariot across somber skies
To shine across the passing mists of your silver cheeks.
You were the best of stories told,
But now the sirens’ voices sting with saltwater
And in pity of your vacant wade they will not sing their songs.
For you are the animal that stalks along, teeth bared,
The Nemean lion destined to starve, as the world
Solves your riddles.
Oh, best of humanity, where have you gone?
Oh, all that would have made you kings, Gods on earth!
Had you kept the passionate, simple veins of life
That so long ago, have you forgotten,
Were gifted at birth.
Roukia Ali (Kia, she/her) is a Canadian-Comorian writer based in Toronto. Pursuing an Honors Bachelor of Arts double major in English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Toronto Scarborough, she has dedicated her life to a professional pursuit in writing since the age of four. Roukia has current and upcoming publications as a first-place winner in Scarborough Fair and a writer in MJF Creative’s Visionary Magazine. Other than writing, Roukia can be found reading manga, flexing her French, quoting Shakespeare, and attempting unsuccessfully to tear herself away from bookstores. You can follow her on Instagram @roukiaa9140.