torn apart

forlorn and shipless
exiled alone in the dark
I watch the Pacific moonlight
illuminate your gold framed picture
in between moments the clouds send
an unseen SOS from this island of solitude
time moves on, sluggish, marked with chalk
on salt-washed slate, I am nothing now,
lost in the depth of our dreams
I listen to my breath, a whisper of mourning…

wayward and careworn, the soul-screaming
hurricane-plane-crashed-in-coral-reefs
nightmare is my faithful companion
yet I have not forgotten —
breathing still, damning myself,
beseeching the stars to alter the pain
of a thousand breathtaking sunsets — why
did I hurry away that night when
driving rain muffled our farewells
and your ring waited between us,
still wrapped in its golden box…
I said I’d count forty-eight hours
you promised to wait a lifetime
not knowing destiny’s hand, still
I cannot learn to live without your shadow
the echo of your voice, I cannot brave
losing the touch of your reality, I am insane
prevented from gazing into the love
greater than sunlight in your eyes…

timeworn and grieving
I remind myself to just
continue breathing, I am cast away
never to return to those places
where I held you in my arms
ghostlike moments which tantalize me nightly
when your golden presence soothed
eternity from my solitude
now I am lost in the ocean’s invisibility
where I escaped death’s jeer
companionless, torn apart, my heart
bleeds inexorably to extinction
alone, without you


torn apart
[2009.28.6…a]
Written for "COLORING THE WORLD CONTEST "