“If I Rise” by Amit Parmessur

If I rise
I’ll have to know the sun that saves the soul.
I’ll have to know the sea that erases your footsteps
and makes you a better man.

I’ve climbed the mountain of human dreams.
I’ve climbed the tree that bears a hundred years
of parasitical sincerity to its soil.

If I rise
I’ll have to taste the chocolate that’s slippery.
I’ll have to taste the moments of agony that cut
the hands of the golden clock.

I’ve resolved to be the man of all men.
I’ve resolved to be the man of a woman who’ll
suffer when she makes me suffer.

If I rise
I’ll have to see death in moments of blindness.
I’ll have to see drunken shooting stars in the
burning-glass of my mind

If I rise
I’ll have to rise from the darkest pit of shame.
I’ll have to rise just like a sun behind mountains
of nauseating nightmares.

If I rise

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Amit Parmessur hails from the gorgeous island of Mauritius. He has been published in more than 40 magazines since starting to submit his poems late 2010, including Burnt Bridge, Calliope Nerve, Carcinogenic Poetry, Clutching at Straws, Damazine, Dead Snakes, Heavy Hands Ink, Leaf Garden Press, LITSNACK, Puffin Circus, Shot Glass Journal, The Camel Saloon, The Houston Literary Review, The Literary Burlesque, and The Scrambler.