Fireworks

I refuse
I refuse to be the rat to your bagpipe

Or the glue hidden beneath
the creaks of your craft

I refuse to be your invisible half
I refuse to be the magic ingredient to your feast;
Kept secret, ‘for-the-family’.

No!
I won’t be the silent seething warrior
Fighting the curtains and the laundry

I will be the bewildering wreck of a surprise,
that comes charging down like off-season-rain

I refuse to be the dotted line
meant to hold your signatures
and ‘because-I-said-so’ rules
I would rather be the glowing silhouette
that frames castles and fumes

I refuse to be the feeble flickering lamp, trying to smile
Despite your bellows of angry cry

But I can assure you baby,
that I will be the rage of fireworks
that awaken the whole damn sky!

I won’t be the pretty adjectives tied like a pink ribbon to your nouns
But I will be those legends that inspired luminaries that held their ground

So no,
Don’t try to bundle me up to the size of your palm
Or prick me in a needle hole to thread your buttons together

Cuz I am a wildflower that can survive without your watering
A desert storm by choice
A volcano in ice
And I refuse to be just ‘nice’!