Silent Landscape I by Aisha Rajar
I have seen many ill children
With eyes, full with hope for wonders,
Eyes, which are unforgettable for me.
To ravel out the beams of beauty
From purpose, of grammar
From vocabulary, is to find
The made-erratic, broken
English of Amina’s eyes
A kind of blasphemy.
Fixed beyond the camera,
They speak from the head
Of the page
Like an angel coming home
Drunk and laconic after a fuck,
Inured to shame
And to praise alike.
It diminishes you,
Amina, so
To sell your splendour
In the name of charity,
When through the forging
Of art with policy,
Of rouged skin
With bleeding heart
Your voice,
All in uncertain terms,
Carving beautifully.
~ Samuel Reilly
Samuel Reilly, 21, is currently a student of English Literature at Oxford University, otherwise based in Glasgow. He intends to travel, to continue writing poetry and music, and perhaps at some stage to form a contingency plan. Among his influences are Hugh MacDiarmid and Wallace Stevens.Â
