She Speaks Urdu

This poem hit me in the face as I was walking back from lunch and then it had to be written.

She Speaks Urdu

She speaks Urdu

She is French down to her core

But she speaks Urdu

To make her smile a little more

Because it takes her far away

And she speaks it because it's odd

And just a little bit absurd

And maybe energizing and maybe serene

Hoping to let go

Of all she's clenching with her hands and with her heart

Hoping to let go of  everything she has

Within her heart

Have you seen her?

Have you seen her on her toes

Dancing ballet

It's a game she has to play

Even she knows

It will break her bones and leave her feet with scars

But if she gives up

Someday she may forget how to stand up straight

And lord knows

What will happen if she cannot stand up straight

She loves fashion

And on days when she's upset

She gets dressed up

On her worst days you can bet

Her eye shadow

Will be every shade of blue

But it's never overdone

And days when she most wants to run

To the wilderness and hide away and

Play with the chipmunks all day

Or steal away to Rome

She wears high heeled boots to keep her walking home

And her paintings

Oh but you would not believe

How she paints them

Splashing lilac on her sleeve

Dripping fuchsia

On her finished hardwood floor

And the skirt she bought last week

Has a long sapphire streak

So you'd think she'd be a mess

And that's what she will confess

But her paintings look so neat

And she says they're incomplete

Just the way she thinks she is but

She is not, no, she is not!

At all

The way she thinks she is

She knows better

Somewhere far beyond this trance

She is better

Past the fashion and the dance

She is stronger

And she doesn't need to act as if she needs to act at all

Because even when she lets go of her posture and her make up and

Her boots and even Urdu

Because even when you cartwheel off the balance beam you're living on

The people will applaud you and the ground is not so far

And you can live

And you can live

Without forgetting who you are