I am a writer. Therefore, I am not sane. -Edgar Allan Poe
At times we experience
What we believe to be inimitable
Loneliness becomes overwhelming
Until we discover others
Comparably affected
A community formed
As a result of
Compassion and acceptance
Families and friendships form
Loneliness consumed by love
A bitter taste
Destroying beauty
People that kill
People who die
Children who wake
From gunshots outside
Families afraid to
Send their children to school
Blood soaked clothing
Of mothers whose
Sons have died in their arms
Guns in the hands
Of the innocent and nefarious
Bombs dropped
Bloodshed in the name of God
Wars for power, land, oil, greed
Mother’s without children
Babies without families
Nations without trust
Humans without Love
***
Hope endures faintly
1 drink to warm up
The cold inside
2 to loosen
The tongue
3 to gather courage
4 to reach out
5 to speak
Speak words of truth
Held back for so long
The aphrodisiac
Intensifies our hunger
Then morning….
What have we
Done?
Said?
1 drink to feel
Again…
Immersed in the dessert sun
Her troubles slowly melt away
The sparrows sing
And carry her pain on their wings
She is free
In the dry land
She calls home
If I could escape
Fly far away
You would be there
Nothing holding us back
Oblivious to
Life’s insignificance
Apart from
Our arms embrace
Our lips
Your touch
Caressing me
Day and night
The world would
Cease to spin
A cessation in time
Passion dominating
Us alone
And my heart
At long last
Undarkened
You repress it
Behind your smile it lurks
In the pit of your stomach
It resides
Growing
An irrepressible contagion
Ascending from the bowels
Disappointment
Infuriation prolonged
Now turned to rage
Misguided resentment
Boiling over
Need for an outlet
You struggle to keep it inside
No, it must be released
Released on me
My spirit
And my body
It must be released
It dissipates
Rage released…
Children are crying
Screaming aloud
Blood is scattered
Spread throughout
Pain and sorrow
All around
Loud sounds
Screeching through the air
Bullets flying
Children dying
Guns are given
Out like toys
Babes in arms
Little girls and boys
Violence is the only way
Grab the children
Seize the day
I have forgotten
What longing for another
Feels like
–
A recluse for years
Stuck under
My chosen rock
–
I fear that love
Will continue to
Elude me
Once I return
To humanity
–
That is why
The rock
Has become
My only love
Stuck on this plane
I cannot fly
My wings
Clipped by my mind
I writhe in pain
Try and try
Stuck on this plane
I cannot fly
B.A. Wilcox © 