The Thief

I was young when you started stealing from me,
teasing away my freedom, corruptibly.
I despised you as soon as I recognized you,
Like I was born to be repelled by your presence.
And yet you kept returning, like you enjoyed feeding on my innocence,
both nurturing and then destroying my centre of equilibrium, inhibiting 
all self confidence until I recognized myself no-longer.

And forever since, just a whiff of your scent, steals more
of that brittle state of mind, until I remember it is no longer you
but versions of your memory, remnants of a shadow-self lurking  
manifesting around edges and angles in moments of reprieve. 
So keen to destroy everything I took so long to build up,
yet still, I managed to contain a level of decorum around you
enough to know in your twisted forms, you couldn’t have helped yourself.

As simple as a scratch rips a tender sore
I learned to pity your talons tearing through to my bones
whilst you learned your dutiful place at keeping me in a fragile state.
Edging around each scene you created a venomous cage
whose key teases itself further from my grasp
weakening me each time I froze to perform.
I grew to almost admire at your tenacity of never giving up.

Thieving nights away from sleep
I knew enough to know it needed to come to an end
despite the poisonous capacity you fermented in my blood.
The earth weaved her spell so I would meet a reflection of my soul,
vitality reinforced, a love so pure drove me to gladly enter the cave where you dwell,
compelling your release of my grasp so I could finally grow, finally see what I was meant to be, redeemed as my own birthright dignity.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2018



Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.

Please Login to post a comment

Date: 6/24/2018 8:21:00 AM
To me this reminds me of an exlove that was not good for you. It took time but you finally realized it and moved on. It's a great write and flows smoothly.
Login to Reply
Furlong Avatar
Oliver Furlong
Date: 6/25/2018 6:31:00 AM
Thank you James, much appreciated.
Date: 6/17/2018 9:40:00 AM
Nicely penned my friend...there's always a thief that lurks in the night...poetically speaking...love and light...^WW^
Login to Reply
Furlong Avatar
Oliver Furlong
Date: 6/17/2018 4:37:00 PM
Cheers WW. I thought it important to write about the darker aspect of our shadows. And the beauty in trying to overcome our deeper seated wounds.
Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry

Member Area

My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder

Soup Social

Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us

Member Poems

Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread

Member Poets

Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest

Famous Poems

Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100

Famous Poets

Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War

Poetry Resources

Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter