Lois Baldwin | + Follow Poet |
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The Tower

The Tower

Today... today, I climbed The Tower.

Circular in shape,

rising, an ominous bullet ...

piercing a black night sky,

erasing stars, and moon, and hope.

Filling my vision with moldy,

immovable bricks,

it soared, and became the only thing,

my heart could see and feel.

No way out! No way out!

Trapped? Still trapped?

No! Never, never, never again.

Never!

Then, what are you going to do?

I heard.

Up! My heart thundered ...

Up! My soul screamed ...

Up!

Climb!

Now!

But ... what if I slip? What if I fall?

Which, do you fear more ... my soul whispered,

Falling, and having to try, again?

Or ...

Remaining chained

to your fear,

forever?

I reached to touch the bricks ...

the foul, stinking bricks ...

the imprisoning bricks ...

of my fear ...

and began to climb ... slowly.

A toehold here ... yes ...

fingers sliding into the ugly slime

between the bricks ...

grasping, seeking, climbing ...

For my life.

Each brick a slap, a kick, a punch ...

Each brick a stab, a burn, a violation ...

Each brick a lie, a betrayal, a rip in the fabric of my soul ...

Sealed, with an oozing mortar of pain and distrust.

My prison, my hell ...

of fear unspoken, of lonliness untold.

Nearing the top of the tower, 

I look down ...

the tower sways,

cold winds rush through me,

my fingers, numb from gripping these bricks ...

slip.

I begin to fall ...

The rage within, screams,

No! Why are you looking down?

Down, is history ... nothing more ... look up!

My soul smiles.

I climb.

The bricks are now ... just bricks.

Bricks are easily destroyed,

turned into dust ...

and blown away into the history of the past.

Pulling my body, my heart, my mind, my soul

onto the summit of the tower,

I am warmed by the sun.

I feel the tower ... dissolving ... into nothing.

Fearless,

I jump,

soaring,

into,

Freedom.

Copyright © Lois Baldwin | Year Posted 2016

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