Lament
Free Verse
in that
benighted time
between
waking
and sleeping,
we are woken
by the wind
whispering
between branches,
howling a dirge
we clutch
our blankets tight,
feel around
for someone
who’s not there,
the loneliness
the bleakness
of it all
drops,
we are Atlas
unknowingly,
from
the depths
of a heart
that has
remained
hidden,
shackled,
repressed
an animalistic
urge to rip free
courses through
sluggish veins,
ennervating
every cell,
coaxing us
to finally
give up
the weight
we carry
the weight of
a thousand fears
that stopped
our next step,
a million wishes
left unfulfilled,
a billion things
we wish we’d
said, done
the lament starts,
soft at first,
afraid
to be heard,
soon
it grows bolder,
venturing out
into expletives
that spark
fireworks
in the wind
then it huffs,
it puffs,
it crescendoes
into a
full-throated howl
giving voice
to all the
frustration
we’ve kept
bottled up
we sing
a lament
for what
we once were,
for what
we are,
until
our throats
are raw
pressure released
we cocoon
ourselves
back
in the safety
of our
heavy
blankets,
slip back
into dreams
the next morning
we barely remember
the catharsis,
we only feel
an unexplainable
lightness
© Indira Reddy 2020
