Theft of My Will To Survive

Published in: PS: It's Poetry: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry from Around the World – November 27, 2020

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Blindly.. I beseech you for my eyes won’t adjust to this shaded maze of despair - neither the lantern’s flame nor a compass rose can help me now in disrepair I need to find you with fingers outstretched I raise my arms groping for you like a eyeless babe for her mother ..but you’re not there — a cunning thief this despair for stealing my sight for a way out Why won’t the summer solstice light this darkness nor warm this anguished atmosphere.. am I to die here where I lie? my undressed soul exposed to the wind-chill of your loss naked in biting throes beneath a stony sun desperate to thaw ice dams lodged in my bloodstream.. the winter sallow of my heart’s shallows a skater’s delight — a cunning partner this despair.. ice-dancing with my pain Where is the air I need to breathe..? it’s evaporated with you and the dreams we used to dream the weaver a double-dealer stealer.. life no longer lives in my poker-faced lifestyle nor in fantasies long gone from sleep’s clouds moth-eaten desires and grit and tears too holey and harsh to knit a warm reason to swaddle in - just let me close heavy hope-chest-lids of empty eyes and take my last shrinking violet breath — a cunning spy this despair for infiltrating my will to survive.. Susan Ashley October 11, 2020 N/A Premiere Contest: 2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 22 Sponsor: Mark Toney (reformatted) ~ First Place ~ Contest: Will To Survive Sponsor: Silent One