Metaphors
I saw a squirrel cross the road today
High above me on a utility line
She was running, then would stop, then run again
I thought, “I don’t know how you don’t get electrocuted,
but
you are so smart to avoid the road below.”
So many things, lately, are metaphors for my life
A squirrel running as fast as she can on a high wire
Protecting her life as best she can
But at any moment she could be thrown to the ground
With a sudden jolt
I don’t know how that works, really
How does she not die?
I don’t even know how she knows how to survive
I see myself in mirrors
I smile
Mirror, mirror on the wall
Who do you see when you are not looking at me?
I cleaned the pool
There was a bloated, dead lizard in the basket
I didn’t bury it, but I didn’t throw it, either
I placed it on the grass and looked at it a while
I wondered how long it struggled before its eyes closed
I watched my dogs bathe in the shine of the sun today
I watched as my hens came out to play
Those moments were a refuge
From my tortured thoughts
They were happy
My precious pets
It is unbeknownst to them that I struggle
They are unaware of how in moments like these
That they drag me
Mercifully
From the shadows
I want to say all the things on my mind
Shout my truth from the roof tops
People hear what they want to hear
No one really cares where it went wrong, why it went wrong,
who did wrong
I care
Spare me the cliques
I am on a high wire
Running as fast as I can
I try to hear, listen, learn
I can’t hear
I can only hear trumpets blaring inside my head
I am jolted
Thrown to the ground
My life takes my breath away
It stood so bold and bright in the night’s sky
Flaunting its beauty indiscriminately for all to see
I adored it for a time
Enthralled by its perfection, its majesty
How is it so precisely round? And gold? How is it whole?
Another metaphor for me
A slice of a person too many days
In a dark sky
But …
To one day be whole again
To rise
Beyond and above the high wire lines …
No comments:
Post a Comment