Poem by Birgitta Abimbola Heikka

[Birgitta Abimbola Heikka]

Made it in the nick of time
(UNPUBLISHED)

My Fantasy would have been my Reality only IF

I would have been a competent composer if
my mind were not made subservient to another
I can see my fingers on a piano painting new notes
I would have seen the sky right side up if

My legs were not twisted inside my arms
obstructing a direct view of the sky and limiting my movements 
A high-grade history teacher I might have become if
I had not been given the choices between food and school

I can see myself in a classroom of bright-eyed students
relishing information about Mansa Musa!
That much talked of 14th century African king
who littered the streets of Cairo with gold like common dust

A mind can glitter like gold if not locked up
I once dreamt of a man who opened a box overflowing
with necklaces, earrings and bracelets  of gold and diamonds, shimmering!
So dazzled were my senses that I reached out in my dream for a piece

of the treasure but he, immediately, slammed the box shut!
Dashed hopes of bright minds locked up in a great institution for fear
That the privileged would lose their own brightness

I dream of a world where all are illuminated like the millions of bright stars in the sky
What treasures would be discovered in unseemly places and people if
minds were not turned into vassals?

Regards,

Birgitta