Tenacious

Time, oh healer of wounds
Hasten your arrival,
mend the flow of spirit.

My soul, like torn flesh
hangs in a curtain of invisible,
deepening pain.

Look not, turn away lest you see
my torment.
No, look deep, deeper still and
save me from emotional dismemberment.

Broken of heart am I,
but not broken of soul.
The rails of life I ride,
to an unknown station.

Once there, who shall greet me?
One with baited breathe or I a baited fish with
eyes so dead, so vanquished, so lost.

It is late, my body still young, my mind
still wanting, my soul still yearning.
Slashing at my will, the words and thoughts
fly again, betraying my peace and
like a fervent, flailing serpent fill
my mind with venom.

I must grasp at strength,
suck the marrow of life
as surely as I must suck this
poison from my soul.


Stefano, 2011