Heart beats are the drums of war
to girls cocooned in the canals
Of cervix canons.
Wrapped in films of hopes
Whispered prayers & daybreak dreams.

Butterflies are birthed on battlefields.
Wrinkled wings dripping afterbirth.
First fruits of war wombs.
Tears bless their antennae
Sensing for the wind in the Sahara.

Sacred waters weep.
Wells sealed and pried open
At the whim of the ungodly thirsty.
Sacrifice ruby buds.
Rent hymens for penance.

Bloodshed shall be her shahadah.
How long Allah before I am unveiled?
How long Allah before I am unchained?

Hijabs shield my beauty.
My wings wither in non flight.

Bullets punctuate my periods
Spotting blood against a cloudless sky.
Scarlet shame streaming down my thighs.
The cramping shifts the bowels of the Earth.
Men speak of them as tremors.
It speaks my discontent.

Diamonds decorate irises
Unblemished by the scorch of the Sun.
A-man paying homage to every God
But her who bares life.
But her who cycles as the rising of the moon.
One part weary, one part warrior.
ALL woman.

Butterflies float between cracked Earth.
Fractured skylines.
Wing spanning battlefields blushed
Crimson.

Tomorrow she shall gather her dead.
Enfold them in her waist.
Place light kisses on cool foreheads.
Scream holy hellfire.
Spread wide her limbs
& rebirth a flock of rainbows
To scatter across the globe
As bejeweled blooms and glittering prisms
For the sun to admire.

Butterflies are birthed on battlefields
Beautiful in blood burning skies.