Ruby - Astari Boedikoentjara
You need us and we need you
like humanity needs to stay true
Why do we need to be reminded
by another tragedy that leaves us shattered?
A tremor that shook you all
I’m enjoying my silence as you fall
I could do the dance and amuse them all
No, I’m staying still
waiting for the news
before going in for the kill
I know you didn’t mean to see me through
It’s something you can’t help
and what you wish you never had
“Have patience.”
That was what you said that night
Call me by my name
Know who I am
It’s my identity
if you wish to speak to me
It’s a simple request
You complain about my hair
You make me want to swear
or the chubbiness in my cheeks
which somehow gives you the creeps
Then you go on with my nose
Sometimes a soul wanders
to find somewhere safer
not in the shape of a building
a house full of material things
A soul can fear a mirror
There’s the child and the adult
a heated argument involved
You think the child’s always being told
but not all adults are the grown-ups
It’s funny when you see
If age is just a number,
then why does time feel smaller?
Space is no longer
as wide as we once experienced.
Before the digits,
“Oh, I am so ordinary.”
Is that what you see, right there in the mirror?
Can’t you be something more?
You think you know you.
That’s not what you do.
Someday,
all will be discovered
He’ll be caught
persecuted, like he’s always deserved
How do you know you’re not missed?
Try to walk away and disappear
Who’s going to reach out to you?
Seriously, who?
You’re probably offended
Another year gone by
left without questions why
The same old rituals
the familiar matters
The same old, mundane conversation
