Contrast Poem by Alison Mujati

Contrast

A devotion won't make me a saint
An emotion of taint
Merely personage, sometimes my miscalculations make me a transgressor

Appreciating won't make me a dog
There is nothing erroneous following triumphant people

Smiling does not mean contentment
There are times when people must feign to mislead adversaries

workless does not mean I am not competent
A degreed minion yet has nonentity to parade it.

Stamped a flop owing single putrid entity
What of all those countless triumphs they witnessed since my birth

Remembered for one failed attempt
Those excellent tries bring no contempt

Die-hard alluring mentality
Yet just being oneself is branded a flimsy personality

Black as in a race
Well, it is not a passport to let them think of naivety

Negro and proud to be
Still not that lad of queer dances and ethnic dogmas

Man of compassion
Does it ascertain a mannish flaw?

I have been in one fracas but will it make me a villain forever
In the corresponding sequence, my upright demeanor must not make people believe I am Mr. Impeccable

Being tangled in the crossfire, after calculated criminal cause, must not make them believe fabrication
So much can be at stake, it may need the side of my story for the benefit of the doubt

Days may be different, some you can be off-color
One bad day cannot make a person a lazy bugger

Judge me not of my looks, after all, no one can be an own maker
The inside may be gold made, more precious than anyone ever imagined

Judge people, it is at your peril
The following morning they will plead not guilty
Will you not be ashamed?