...when the dominoes fall, a daunting feeling overwhelms me as if the weight of the world is resting on my shoulders and there is nothing that can be done to get out from under it...
A Harlon Rivers prose poem
"Falling Angel"
A Victim of My Own Silence
The perfect storm gutted a delicate
balance
That once seemed the essence of emotional symmetry
A merciless tempest left a hollow
Fragile shell, gray and melancholy
as a dark cloudy day
A previously crystal-clear identity
Became lost in the smoke and ashes;
The smoldering ruble of what once was
Before the rampart storm’s fury fanned
The flames into a ragging abyss of what
Was already burning silently out of control
The depleted faint shadow of a shining light
Now remains dimmed by waning elements
Once glowing with an unbridled spirit of light
Dignity is a vague concept by which
We measure our toleration when dull unending aches
Overcome the obscure illusion of parity
A series of unrelenting raucous storms overpower
willpower, manifesting a mind set-of
helplessness
evolving into unrestrained thoughts of hopelessness
An intimidating feeling as if the weight of the world
Is resting on my shoulders and there is nothing
that can be done to get out
from under it ~
Too few steps forward for too long
Too many steps in the wrong directions
Were taken while waiting
Stranded at crossroads
Where indecision stalled forward motion
On the road less taken
Mired in the humility of silent contemplation
A daunting unanswerable question
Dominates all remaining thoughts
What happens when the ache of the
weight
Becomes too much too much to bear?
There comes a time when silence
Is just another word for pain . . .
That once seemed the essence of emotional symmetry
A merciless tempest left a hollow
Fragile shell, gray and melancholy
as a dark cloudy day
A previously crystal-clear identity
Became lost in the smoke and ashes;
The smoldering ruble of what once was
Before the rampart storm’s fury fanned
The flames into a ragging abyss of what
Was already burning silently out of control
The depleted faint shadow of a shining light
Now remains dimmed by waning elements
Once glowing with an unbridled spirit of light
Dignity is a vague concept by which
We measure our toleration when dull unending aches
Overcome the obscure illusion of parity
A series of unrelenting raucous storms overpower
willpower, manifesting a mind set-of helplessness
An intimidating feeling as if the weight of the world
Is resting on my shoulders and there is nothing
Too few steps forward for too long
Too many steps in the wrong directions
Were taken while waiting
Stranded at crossroads
Where indecision stalled forward motion
On the road less taken
Mired in the humility of silent contemplation
A daunting unanswerable question
Dominates all remaining thoughts
Becomes too much too much to bear?
There comes a time when silence
Is just another word for pain . . .
