Soul Laid Bare

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 Into Something Harder


I hate life today

strong words for such an apathetic day

I spose I care

but I just don't have the energy to

the sun is pounding harsh  beams into my skull

the veil that kept my eyes from burning lost and gone

as the shroud that envelops my soul strengthens,

draws me closer

holds me in protective arms

hard to steer when you can't see either the forest or the trees

only glimmering waves of white heat

hard to take on faith when there is none to be found

Why do I struggle to break free?

Why when I know that in the end I will come to my senses

sink myself back into that space where I'm safe

Pull that shroud back around myself

The walls that I kept thinking were keeping me locked away were actually keeping me strong

keeping me safe

keeping me from my own folly

and it's good to remember that the walls don't keep me in  

they keep you out

not my enemy but

my greatest ally

They catch the feelings that seep unguarded

toss them back

toss them away

hide them in that great stockpile of excess I really want no part of

Did I make the walls that way?

Or did they twist and tangle into something like the briar hedge?

Something to catch me up, skewer me

drain my blood and use it  to reshape me

into something harder

something less feeling

a creature of it

thicker skin

larger eyes

spiny plated shell covering

still me, but harder

still me but lesser

more bad, less good

more is, less could

more need, less want

more knowing, less believing

still as foolish as ever in the weak part inside

still as soft and childishly wanting

why I build those walls so thick,

wrap the shroud so tight

I am only hiding the silly part from the light that will burn it

the world would only tear it to pieces

too vulnerable to survive

Sad to be so weak on the inside

to have to become so hard just to save that part

maybe it should have been left alone

to waste away

survival of the fittest always thwarted by interference

and it only weakens the whole