Midnight, bewitching hour
full of horripilation
Car door slam-bang
and the warble act begins
No,no, I scream inside
the verisimilitude of what will now ensue
I am a powerless protégé
a stand in for the only one who
could save me
but she doesn’t
either by ignorance
or choice
I sit in a chair
weeping in despair
inside aching
trying not to play in hedonistic
Unholiness
I disassociate my mind
saving me
from the actuality of the death
I so desperately need to leave
SHADOWS ARE ME
I am there, but I am not.
I seem to be, but how could I?
I am my pain, which can’t be seen.
A shadow of yesterday, smoke in your eye.
My words are the wind.
My wishes but a one-liner.
Can I really walk through walls?
Unseen, unheard, totally unascertained?
And this is not a lament.
For I wish not be seen.
Or heard, or felt, or regarded.
It is okay to be a shadow, a sheen on a screen.
An expanse full of souls.
A blank soul without contour.
Words that cannot be discerned.
A presence, that by essence, needs a Yom Kippur.
But there is no atonement.
No redemption for my being.
Just remain an opaque shadow.
I tell my soul: you are not what they are seeing.
You are already an adumbration.
No need to find a corner to hide.
You already lack attention, admiration.
No need to hide or be stealthy soul of mine.
darkness ...
it is closing its careless bite
upon ALL of us
it knows no favor, no age, no disposition
fear and all its dim shadows
paint the tremulous sky above
and swirl the murky waters at our feet
it casts an arrogant shade that we have not yet seen
dimming all that we care for and contemplate
all that is dear and demanded
it hides its claws in plain sight of all
gnashes its teeth behind the smiles of kindness
it comes in the guise of those we love
and the necessities of life
but take heart - there is always hope
for even as the adumbration spreads about us
the one truth of human nature
becomes as evident as ever
that it is the very worst of times and adversities
that brings out the very BEST of US
and I have no doubt in mind or marrow
that in these darkest of hours
we will once again persevere
the human spirit will once again ...
shine.
~ 2nd Place ~ in the "Quarantine" Poetry Contest, Julie Leigh Rodeheaver, Judge & Sponsor.
Shrouded penumbra
Seconds shatter dawn's chilled gasp
Moments remain mute
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