Hard times
Posted: December 19th, 2010, 1:30 pm
Hard times
bleed out
from beneath
my peaceful table.
Crumbs I've thrown them,
no longer enough
to keep them down.
Pulling on my legs,
like cheekbones pressing
on my knees,
old children
I banished away.
I cannot eat
with them haunting me
so near,
their faces
look like mine,
pleading, whimpering,
why did life do this to me.
I put my hands
on their headtops,
push them down,
or someone might see.
Later, alone in my sanctuary,
I weep rivers of salty fears.
Madness seems an inviting escape,
a mother,
gathering up herselves
in reunion,
fleeing to safety,
after years of becoming
a stranger
to what she needs.
bleed out
from beneath
my peaceful table.
Crumbs I've thrown them,
no longer enough
to keep them down.
Pulling on my legs,
like cheekbones pressing
on my knees,
old children
I banished away.
I cannot eat
with them haunting me
so near,
their faces
look like mine,
pleading, whimpering,
why did life do this to me.
I put my hands
on their headtops,
push them down,
or someone might see.
Later, alone in my sanctuary,
I weep rivers of salty fears.
Madness seems an inviting escape,
a mother,
gathering up herselves
in reunion,
fleeing to safety,
after years of becoming
a stranger
to what she needs.