UNDERSTANDING

UNDERSTANDING
In a world, a cosmos
of a new understanding,
we were not under the powerful gaze
of strategic planning, overtures of capture,
sudden invasions of waiting opportunists,
of imperial domains where the first declaration
always ruled, with a prerogative
to make the minds and break them at will.

When my hand was held by a covenant, not a promise
and my existence suddenly woke up
to a new grace,
and I was softly told to make a distinction
between an affirmation and a declaration.

I, who was brought up to swallow declarations,
I, who in a marginalized world, never knew there was another world,
over and above hegemony,
was drawn in with no language to aid my understanding.

"It takes one to make one;
it takes one to undo one;
it takes one to break one";
that was the kind of philosophy,
pragmatic, with a fox-like cunning,
with the astute acumen
of strategic planning,
that i was required to imbibe,
an art of maneuvering, shape-shifting,
manipulating, circumscribing language
for the game of chess.

I was taken unaware when the affirmation came,
not as an intrepid, audacious announcement,
but a soft whisper that belonged nowhere
in the familiar geopolitics of relationships.
A transposition to another keynote,
I am still in a daze, because i cannot translate
this whisper into any language known.

There is still time to understand;
for the time being,
let me remain in a daze.