Submitted By: Nkiru Njoku

She told me tales of love unreturned,
He told me tales of love never given.

He told me tales of tears still unshed,
She told me tales of constant weeping.

They told me tales of major betrayals,
They told me tales of hearts and their breaking.

Whom shall I ask, who knows the whole truth?
When all them that saw are now split up in two?

Some think he was the one with all the hurts,
'Therefore', they think, 'she must go on her knees.'

Some think he was the big, bad monster.
'Therefore', they think, 'he must beg her back home.'

Tales of woe never ending,
Judgements of the people ever flowing.

How can I make them see?
That 'tis I whom they hurt most of all?

Throughout all the hurts and betrayals,
Throughout the weeping and all of the tears,

Somehow, they merged and they brought me forth,
And now they tell me tales unending.

I would that they saw, I would that they knew,
What they do to me, these tales unending.

But they'll never see, neither will they know.
For I seem always at ease. My smiles never ending.

©Nkiru Njoku, March 2002