Winner 2020 UNESCO City of Literature Rap Like Robbie Competition

lighting matchsticks

i lit a matchstick in the horizon

when the pigments of the sun

unravelled to play freeze tag in the sky

when the trees are glowing midnight black

inviting the watercolours to run free

but it didn’t help

that day

the day when quicksand ran over your luck

the day they brought you in a wooden box

your skin was stretched over your bones too slack

the light from the blue-tinted window

highlighting your puffy cheek

the xl-large heart

that wrapped around me in a soothing warmth

but i knew you won’t come back

because the smile you carved with an etching tool years ago

wasn’t there on your face

the matchbox shivered in my vein-puffed hands

as i lit the last match

fighting away the urge to burn the whole park with my emotions

to extract the image of your limp body away from my mind

but when the lights started dancing with night sky

touching my skin

the way you used to when i cried

unloading a whole bucket of love until it flooded the world

i knew that i will have to face it

like the lights do

hugging every shade of colour

giving every shade a chance

a chance to see the world

a chance to face the world

the deep-sea-blue nights

or the stars diving in the black sky

or the parties of pigment at dawn

crayons running free

to paint the canvas

called

life