A Safe Place To Hide

My heart hit the wall like graffiti spray. Shakespeare could have cast you just as you had cast me. Playtime was rushed to sleep with resistance, as cinderblock thoughts tossed and turned until drifting became corroding numbness like the rusting rain refrain. Each drop held my eyes then fell from their reach. My tears mirrored in a fog, my grasp uninhabited. You move on to reach me. Although not alone, we become isolated. Pity's alone, in bitter contemplation. She tilts the hour glass to watch sand pass and beacons a question, challenging to answer: Is unrequited love a crime? Shadows fade- each shade of grey blends. Casting aside the stormy forecast, I forgot about you, but I don't remember when. You took my words back (once vibrantly alive, now aborted) in self-defense of your own heart, for I can bring you honor or shame. Sorrow and indifference blend. I hold them together, as they do me. I forgot about you, but I don't remember when. Staring at a stationary page marker stone, I observed the outcome. My muscles were limp, each limb like a redwood tree branch in stagnant air. I surrendered in acceptance of my perceived absence. Preferring my own attentive company, I'm given a renewed heartbeat. I forgot about you, but I don't remember when. As I slipped off into the distance, a redemptive mystery began seeping through, ready to free me from my ebony prison: blackboard slate, forgiveness' weight. A warm, white noise water rush of comfort cradled me back to the days of my womb home, with the only goal of growing and thriving. Warmth startles, light seeping anew like birds through obscurity. With childlike innocence, a rainbow sits. I forgot about you, but I don't remember when. Cares become lost in uncharted territory. I will brave a smile that could have been a child's. She retraced her steps, each flower a token of curiosity's feat and feet gone awry. Flower petals tapping together were drumming. Just as forgiveness empowers rebirth, emotive blooms burst forth to magnify. I forgot about you, but I don't remember when. Without the daily piece remains hunger. Feeding tube- last meal? Could a single sifted grain of sand ever disappear? Over nature man has no power. I forgot about you, but I don't remember when. Listen to me; never mind what I say. You keep rewinding that old cassette. Like your rugged bristle terrain, my arm hairs stand erect. Maybe I could never forget. I leave behind a safe place to hide. Hugging the wall like a child in the deep pool, I rise up. 3-14-2021 FRAGMENTS OF VERSE Poetry Contest Sponsor: John Lawless All lines were compiled from previous poems, mostly endings. (Too many to reference.)