Give Me Shelter
The horizon in her eyes seems closer than water
A morning breeze caresses her hair
As if announcing a fearful shadow
Longing to meet her pure soul and share
“Give me shelter,” she said “and I will dare”
Enter the herds to spark a light
Hundreds of hands approach her face
Nibbling like crows for another bite
One by one they bow to the Queen of Hearts
“Give me shelter,” she said “and I won’t part”
Playing with imagination she dares
Attempting to tame her mighty flares
Like the sailors fighting the wind at full speed
To them it’s survival, to her another creed
“Give me shelter,” she said “and I will cede”
Gazing at the ocean, waiting for the find
The crowd interrupts with majestic bind
One screams, the other glances and a third grinds
They all want a piece of the pie
“Give me shelter,” she said “and I won’t die”
Now the tide has settled and the horizon is near
The little one sends a sigh of peacefulness and dear
In the land of water, wind and fire
Shelters line up, to her they aspire
“Give me shelter,” she said “and I will turn into fire”
Ramzi Albert Rihani is a Lebanese American writer. His poems have appeared in several publications in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, South Africa, India, and China, including Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Indelible Literature and Arts Journal, ArLiJo, Poetic Sun, Last Leaves Magazine, Cacti Fur Journal, Poetry Potion, Impspired, Flora Fiction, Ephemeral Elegies, In Parentheses, and The Silent Journey Anthology. He received the 2024 Polk Street Review first-place poetry award. He is a published music critic. He published a travel book, “The Other Color – a Trip Around the World in Six Months.” He lives in the Washington, DC area.
