"Before my version begins to fade,

Let me relieve what happened today.

Today was not a lifetime of discrimination and shame,

But of celebration as a black man living in Ukraine."

- culled from the EPIGRAPH

A brave and explorative Artisan

Calm exterior but he was born a warrior

A Leon not bothered about territory

A Leon who hunted alone.

And a Leon who hurt alone.

With a free prefrontal cortex, he came prepared for learning...

And learn he did, as his memory campus would get soiled with complex realities.

In my first anatomy tour, all I saw were dry cadavers,

But by the end of my tenure, I saw my own fresh blood.

No tribal marks but you can tell he started out with an Afro.

And in this foreign soil, explorations were his special dish.

To-and-fro he evolved... and no, he didn't hail from the safari.

From a genial ark but he always kept his wits about him.

And when he stepped out, he was like a fresh aphrodisiac.

Through his eyes, you could hear all of his favorite tunes.

Black vanilla at his core as he had a thing for interfacing.

General with a stylus brush,

Hankie forever in the back pocket.

Like his paws, his heart appears four-chambered,

But on closer inspection, you see a fifth chamber a short distance away from the rest.

A blind Cub walking in the midst of hyenas,

With lesions so deep, they suffocated him where it hurt most.

The pages are filled with art and expression,

As I relive this once-in-a-lifetime experience...

Which shaped me into the man I am today.