NOVICE

When I lost my precious smilie of hope
Ideas were arrested like political prisoners
Words curfewed
I finally cried out to God
"Teach me poetry,
What is metaphor?
Teach me God, I have lost it all"

My sullen God replied
With a violent deluge
That took away my home.
I cried out again
"Teach me what is this? "

Deluge, my child
Is poetry
And Home -
Home is the metaphor you seek