Stop Speaking

Stop Speaking I have a pain in my chest Scared to decide that I need a rest Am I causing a rift or am I bereft? Cast away in thoughts and feelings Large chasms diminish the efforts I go to With explanations I give with overly intricate meaning Lost. Lost on you, lost on all Just a pain with a pain in her chest The writer of her own demise Engineering spirals for her mind to tumble and slide Not knowing there’s another way of being She says “I just...” is she pleading? Nobody knows the end of her sentences They take too long Meandering until she’s lost. I wonder... Where’s the wisdom? At the end of the sentence or in knowing to stop speaking? Feedback loops of static, noise Ringing in her ears Overlaid with her own voice And that pain in her chest She shouts “listen to me!” Then has nothing to say She can’t win. It’s not the moment of engagement she demanded she wants It’s the heart that seeks a heart and wants to hear the beat along with its own There’s not fault on your part I’m the out of sync heart Playing a beat that can’t be followed Speaking riddles Adrift on an uncharted sea Being no one’s cup of tea Tied in knots with fraying twine Feeling like the effort of the translation Loses the moment forever She’s trapped with all the unspoken words Being misunderstood but trying to explain Drowning with just too many words That take just too much time to unravel Until it doesn’t matter anymore. And the poem loses its meaning Because it came out of her head And it’s a mess in there