Poem: “Those Eyes” by Belinda Fafa Doe

THOSE EYES…

Call it, liquid crystal on the eyes. Call it the wet eyes or call it the teary eyes.

The onion I had in hand was rather unfriendly. A cut and two into it and my eyes were already watered.

Then the tears run down willingly.

It wouldn’t stop. It flowed like a waterfall with some force. An emotional force, one that kept me crying in silent.

No, the tears weren’t from the onion for my dinner. It was from the pain of being compared. That my very efforts were compared to another’s, so my best efforts were trashed.

That I was never good enough, because really, I tried to be good enough. But, the words of comparison around me would kill me a thousand times over and over.

That I was no good. These words, those words, all of it, they did hurt. I have felt pain. The ones from human lips, painful words.

The piercing words that made me hate myself. That made me feel I wished I never were. Imagine being a littlun with no so much love. With the people around you, making you feel worse of yourself. No friends, no comforter or whatsoever.

That, is pain. Pain for a little tiny one. A little fellow who knows just innocence. A little one whose wish was ever to know what happiness is about. To want to fly a kite like every other child.

To want to eat sweets and laugh their stomachs out. To, want to run and then jump and scream and just be a little one.

But I have blinked all the pain and tears away and turned them to sparkles. What I feel now, is the joy of believing in me. Now, I know what happiness is. I survived the piercing words. I survived the pain.

Now, I only want to pass happiness on. Like a firefly sharing light, I want to flicker and lighten up smiles on faces.