Fourlinegraphia

She was never a kingdom, yet they called her one. Not because she wore a crown, but because they dreamed of conquest. They traced invisible borders across the landscape of her body, counting her silence as surrender, mistaking her kindness for an open gate. To some, she was fertile land, a field where they hoped to plant their names, their pride, their legacy, believing love was another form of ownership. They built castles out of promises, raised flags stitched with desire, and wrote laws that praised devotion while quietly demanding obedience. They admired her beauty as kings admire a distant country- not for its songs, its rivers, or its people, but for the glory of possessing it. Yet beneath their maps flowed rivers they could not chart, and beneath their footsteps lay mountains that refused to bow. She learned that a heart is not a throne to be occupied, nor a soul a province to be taxed by another's will. So she gathered the names they had carved upon her, washed them away wi...

  The Solitary Road ****************** I have never walked this winding path before, Nor known what secrets wait on either shore. Before my eyes, the dusty road extends, Into the mist where sight and distance ends. *** Upon the clay, deep footprints mark the ground, Where time keeps watch in silence all around. Before my time, through shadows and through light, Unknown spirits walked into the night. *** Through steep ascents and rocks that bruise the feet, Past rusted iron spikes and blinding heat, I wander slow, with parched and burning lips, As sweat like drink from weary fingers drips. *** So many narrow lanes and shortcuts hide, Yet not a single sign to act as guide. But a weathered stone, worn down by wind and rain, Whispers to me amidst the steady pain: *** "The feet that climbed the mountain's highest peak, Will never fear the valleys, low and bleak." Some paths were paved with glitter, wealth, and praise, Some promised love to brighten weary days. *** Some left th...

  The border was a wound drawn across our blood, A sudden storm that stole the earth we knew. The rivers forgot the songs they once had sung, And the sky no longer felt like home or true. We left our doors, our gardens, and our names, Carrying only memories in our eyes. A home is not made only of walls and flames- It lives where a heart can safely rise. I walked away with nothing in my hand, Yet carried worlds that others could not see. The dust of my homeland followed every step, A silent shadow walking beside me. I became a pillar made of fragile clay, Holding a roof of borrowed skies above. I hid my wounds beneath a quiet smile, And gave my weakness the shape of love. They saw the lamp that brightened up their night, The hands that stitched their broken dreams again. They never saw the darkness inside my soul, Or counted all the tears hidden like rain. I became the river that never stopped flowing, Even when the stones had broken me. I gave my mornings to their tomorrow, And bur...

  The Haunting Search for the Lost **************************** Beneath a sky paved  bruised and heavy stone,   I walk the fragile light rope all alone.   The night may whisper doubts like winter wind,   Through forests where the silent shadows grow.   ***  Phantom weeds that choke the paths below,   I seek the ghosts of those who chose to flight.   Leaving my soul an ocean in the night,   A silent tide that no one dares to know.   *** My inner screen unmakes the dust of years,   I see myself, a child devoid of fears- Before the reel was warped by biting grief,   Like winter frost that kills the budding flower.   *** The bitter cold of loneliness may bite,   Yet in that cold, I find my guiding light.   Some memories decay like rusted steel,   Leaving a hollow ache I cannot heal.   *** While others cut like diamonds in my che...

  The Yoke of Empire ********************* Beneath the shadow of a foreign flag, The heavy chains of silent stories drag. With tired hands and broken dreams they weep, In lonely graves the world forgot to keep. *** Upon the shoulders of the weary man, The master sits to rule his fleeting span. One carries pride, and one must bear the chair, A frozen picture of a world unfair. *** The master wears a coat of shining thread, The servant walks where only shadows tread. Like deep roots trapped beneath a frozen clay, The common people bleed their lives away. *** The hands that built the mighty ocean fleet, Are left to die in dust upon the street. They stand like ancient banyan trees in the gale, Though bent by storms, their spirit will not fail. *** The ruler speaks of law and golden light, But builds his palace in the deepest night. A mother’s tear, an empty, barren field, Are painful truths that power tried to shield. *** The tyrant claims he owns the open sky, Because he trapped a bir...

I remember the days when you were my world, when every moment with you felt like a dream unfurled. Three years of love, two years as a pair, we promised forever, we promised to care. But somewhere along the way, we lost our light, our words became fewer, our hearts filled with fights. We lived under one sky but walked different ways, lost in our silence, lost in our days. I don’t even know when we started to fall, when “us” became distant and love felt so small. We only knew one thing, standing apart- “I can’t live with you and walk my on way” said both of our hearts. So we walked to the court with a decision made, thinking goodbye was the choice we had laid. Yet every time I saw you standing there, the anger was gone, there was something still there. Then one day I asked, “Shall we have some tea?” A simple moment brought back the old me. We sat and talked like we did before, and slowly we opened the forgotten door. We laughed about memories, the silly things we did, the love we once s...