Go hide your joy, boy - Celia Sorhaindo

Tail and Coma of Augustine Confessions
Go! Go hide that joy, boy:
Spread your bony fingers across
wide smile; smother and stifle
escaping giggles.

Me, your mother, sister, aunt, the women
next door, too tired
tell you, after laughing is crying; shrapnel-
branded by ancestor’s comet confessions,
—original sin—adulterous invisible fathers
and bitter Monica mothers, you have no right
of passage to light-
hearted happiness.

Go! Go hide that joy, boy:
Dunk your bald head under numbing
river; drown deep
rising passions.

You fool to think a belly-full of fun,
can come before familial duties;
can lift your spirit rapture free
like helium balloon in clouds.
Indentured sentence will be served,
with swift, sharp,
head-turning slaps across
inherited soul.

Go! Go hide that joy, boy:
Grin, bear monkey-on-back shame.
Hang head; don’t risk or rattle
conforming cages.

So what if your seat’s reserved next to all hollowed
man, lined up for rapid shots at bar;
blackbirds on wire; shadows
staring through glass till dark,
sneaking home for
sofa sleep, holding
tears and dreams
alone
?

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Celia Sorhaindo (born 1968) Dominica
Source: Celia Sorhaindo's website