asylum

(Written November 2008)

I recline, recoil, retreat
To my sanctuary of words
Hear a tone on the line
For I am presently
Unreachable
I sit, shrouded in mist of
Meaningless melodrama
Wanting the ice below to break
And for the wintry sea to
Engulf me completely;
To wrap around my body and mind
Its spidery fingers and
Breathe its uninviting cold:
Peruse down my
Xylophone spine,
As my expressionless faces
Retire beneath the waves.
The numbity of it all shocks
Only those who pose; for most of
Us have visited the closet of solitude before.
And yet, my millennium appearance
Was met with iciness and frostbitten
Appendages to summon a corridor that my
Mind had fo r bidd e n return.
A flashback, an essence of
Memory was and is all that
Was necessary to plague me,
To extend welcome to the chill
Not a ray, an ounce, a watt
Of sunlight to greet my
Ashen, downcast face.
While winkle slept the
Winter would only persist,
And while crane courted,
Sleet would only penetrate iron hearts.
As though the blacksmith
Had been mistaken.
I recline, recoil, retreat.