A Poem a Day (64): Live

Another flash poem written for JD Mader's 2minutes go writing exercise... kicking my lazy writing butt

Live

She made it sound so easy

A four-letter word

A small sound

Sweet in its escape

But a lie upon my wounds.

I can let it lie

Or I can let it die

I can let it fester in my hand –

These things sound so easy

These things I tell myself.

Secrets carried deep inside

Kept in the darkest places

Written in an unseen hand

Never to be read

Never to be spoken

Never to be heard –

These things taste bitter

Borne hard upon the breath.

So make it stop

He made it sound so easy

Another four-letter word

Harsher than the first

Darker than the void

Starker than the pit

In which he found himself –  

But to live was so heavy

And stop so light

That the sun hid itself.

You live, she said

In the corners of my mind

As she read the words aloud

And they listened

And they wept

And they stared down

Where the light couldn’t find

Any sanctuary to rest in

As they buried him
Deep within the ground.

Copyright Vickie Johnstone, July 21, 2017