My Past With Sharp Razor Teeth Poem by Angela Bontle Ditumiso

My past follows me around,
a stench that doesn't leave
even as I perfume myself with smiles

My smile clings to me
Scars me as it has when it was yet present
I wear these scars like accolades
A man's journey is judged by the wounds
he collected along the way and I
I have plucked mine by the side of the road
I sunflower for ever step I have taken

My past laughs to my face
I flinch and again it laughs
I tear into scars and streams
but it does not stop laughing
but I no longer give a care

I tend to my present like a fragile babe
One day it'll grow a strong backbone too
One day it'll stand
and my past will finally be afraid
It will cower
no longer will it have the strength
to laugh to my face
and I will laugh in love with
the past that has somewhat made me