Man Undone

sometimes the levees …
sometimes they snap and break.
and at that moment all he could ever do is
stop in the wake of the stampeding ghosts
and stare…
“keep it together. keep it together.
do not undo that mask and show
just how broken you are.”
he pleads with himself. as every chamber inside him
fills with angry waters and then
closes shut like in the hull of a sinking ship.
and if it wasn’t actually sad
it might have been amusing,
in a twisted sort of way,
watching a man lose
to his own shadows.
“I need a place to hide. I just need a place to hide.”
so he shuts his eyes and calls out her name
softly under his breath —
“my love, my love, I need you my love.”
and the first thing he goes searching for
is that door in her eyes.
because of all the places he longs to crawl into
she was the sweetest place for him to hide.
