What Time Is It?

WHAT TIME IS IT?

A shadow crosses my mind
And stops.
An old familiar figure
Sent to me in this place
From memories
Long ago forgotten.

A lonely basket
Of a girl with no age
In a room crying the long,
Hollow tears of some
Deep and dolorous sorrow.
Infinite and wide —
A million years of 
Reflections of relics — 
Stone slab burdens
Rush at me, draw me.

I go to her and touch her sleeve.
Deliberate, slow — 
She turns to reveal me a face
And I’m slammed and assaulted;
Helpless to know my
Barest mirror.
A contorting face,
Dizzying in its madman
Slide show of pains,
Featured frame after frame
Of hurts hooked to hurt 
Played on a wall
Whose eyes streamed
Rivers of tears.

Too much, too much —
It held me idiot captive, a
Helpless prisoner of her face.
Feet hammered and secured
By Christ stakes,
I stood root of the earth —
A neglected garden’s
Tough old abandoned beet.
Weighing of Everest rock times three.
Knowing the tears,
I lived again each memory
Through her face,
Becoming carrier and bearer
As they wormed back inside,
Claiming me owner and
Demanding response.

The eyes lost me
And absorbed me:
They swallowed me up inside,
Jolting God-strong currents of scare
Straight through me — 
Their wide sadness of hope
Too needy of reassurance.

Tethering sour screams within me,
I set to take leave of this place — 
Longing to be star once more
Of my ten-thousand scenes,
Performer again in safe, cloaked
And hooded acts called Normalcy.
I left her as she was,
Gifting no promise or pact — 
My own eyes closed to her difference — 
I moved to go back to my theater,
Running far, far away.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2023

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Empress Avatar
December 2, 2023 at 4:42 AM
So much expressed here in such a creative poetic manner.I absolutely love the flow of this and how youve woven words throughout. Especially “ Tethering sour screams within me, I set to take leave of this place — Longing to be star once more Of my ten-thousand scenes,“ i felt so much reading those lines! Pleasure reading
Arbil Avatar
December 2, 2023 at 5:06 AM
Thank you so much for reading and commenting! Poems of depth like this one can be hard to share so it is nice when someone felt what i meant in writing it.
One Avatar
December 2, 2023 at 2:25 AM
A deeply emotive poem that show a trauma that many may face.. you expressed it with a lot of feelings and your choice of words brought the poem into life..
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