Dusty

A Poem

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

I feel so dusty
like a windswept artifact
left to wallow
on the shelf of life
immobile and unused
an onlooker inside of my own eyes
a static reminder
that I can hold the air
and be still
and collect all of the particles
that drop upon me

If you want me to come back to life
you have to blow the dust off of me
so you can see the real person
underneath the layers
of misplaced sediment
and overheard sentiment
as I stand, a fly on a wall
waiting for you to take a breath
and exhale, so my life
can begin again

I wake up dusty
from allowing the fires to burn
all around me, but not inside
because you can’t be hot
to stand so still
and emote so little
and maybe it’s the dust
that keeps the tears in
because I don’t want my eyes
to burn for forty nights
if I allow myself to weep

Bring me back to life
with the warm wind from your mouth
Cleanse me of my sins
that got me here in the first place
and left me so dusty
from inactivity and loss
that I remained motionless
for all this time
just waiting for you
to notice me
and to clean the dust
off of me
one more time

© Jonathan Greene 2020

If you liked this, you might like this as well:

Escape Velocity