Soul Starving In the Midst of Plenty

Soul Starving in the Midst of Plenty
By Sy Roth

Just a slit where air,
Some air can find a way to creep in
Replenish the foul exhalations of the horde
Crammed to the rafters
Airless beings 
Dazed by the machinations of others
Deus ex machina 
To starve them of what is fresh to others.

Clickety clack fly the miles
Unasssuming chorus of the rails 
In tandem with their moans
And groans, seeking some small blast of air
To mollify a condition
That binds the soulless traveler to a fate
Yet unknown.

Little blink of light 
And the hungry molecules 
Bits of flotsam 
Find ways to crawl to it,
To beat a path toward the light
Which may bring air to starved lungs.
Alveoli beg sustenance
But their cries rain down emptily,
Empty against the clicking and clacking from below
And the miles of breathless wonder
At their condition.

Too heady to begrudge the snakes that found
A way to slither to the errant light,
And for brief moments
To catch wisps of smoky air that cleanse
For an augenblink, 
A soul starving in the midst of plenty.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2021

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