Portrait, unmasked

Come, paint of me, a picture,
devoid of colour and unsmiling,
lest I be known by my smile.

Paint of the butterfly joys
that get crushed by the feet
of soldiers marching to death.

Etch a heart pierced by cries
of children abused, forsaken,
of the unborn, killed in wombs.

Into eyes hollow, fill hopelessness,
ashen lips with the colour of fear,
bruise the face with domestic violence.

Add you must, black, for despair,
white, for searing, blinding pain,
and grey, for crushing loneliness.

Forget not twisted lines of rage,
scavenging ravages of greed,
charred vitriolic holes for hate.

Paint me thus, unmasked,
as I am, naked, a mirror
of the world in all of us.

~~~~~~