'The Shaman' by Ahmed Amine Ramdani

The shaman paused, the shaman knew,

You wish to escape, and yet remain true.

The road you walk is small indeed,

The route is a circle, we call it routine,

Listlessly you go down your tidy little lists,

Acupuncutring your heart,

one bullet-point at a time,

drawing circles like fences;

isn’t it so nice of you,

to keep yourself in check?

Your manager esteems you, are you not fulfilled?

Your spouse respects you, don’t you pay the bills?

Your children, however, are not impressed,

your inner child, your greater man, they rattle their bars,

they scream their hunger, they feed on your heart,

out of starvatation, to stave off cold death.

This hollow heart makes for a poor tutor,

for your tender saplings to grow on.

Come with me, says the Shaman,

Gaze with me, says the Mystic,

Cast with me, says the Mage,

Word and verb and speak,

Stand and stay and grow,

But don’t you dare to let it go,

Don’t you hide yourself alone,

The Hermit’s cave is stifling,

a hermetic, sealed coffin,

You’re a living treasure

those can’t hide

in leaden safes

no bars, but feathers;

under the sky

is where you’re safe.

A club of lonely hearts,

is an oxymoron;

we sit around the hearth

and we know love again,

we sing together,