Kingdom of My Embrace
"Years” and “Distance”, phantoms of the dark that do their evil
in the quietude of the everyday, coming and going without so
much as a footprint or a whisper, and taking the most valuable
possessions of the heart, the things you care about and adore
most of all ...
They wear cloaks of pretext, mitigation that tempts the soul
into rationalizations seemingly just and sensible, but therein
lies their insidious and guileful nature ... heartache will find its
own remedy when left to itself, and it will seek to surrender to
the farthest reaches of the suffering soul ...
There we ever strive, consciously or not, to find the tangible
grasp on happiness, often at the cost of truth ... “Time” and
“Separation”, faceless demons, laughing silently at our foolish
striving for those mundane bridges between commonality and
the things that sustain us ...
The ever-so-brief glimpses of joy and excitement that we are
apt to carry in our heart's pocket, taken out and polished as
treasure when the shadows wrap us like a shroud - when the
fog of life's darker meanderings cling deep - to reflect the glint
of reason ever inward ..
It has taken me a lifetime, (one spent in the not-so-dignified
pursuit of what I thought were the meaningful endeavors), to
pull the veil back from the obscurity of their faces, to learn to
not glance away at the sight of their stark visage, but stare
unblinking and focused and still ...
To recognize them for the horrors they are and can be, and
not be content to let them find a convenient home in my un-
wary conscience ... excuses are the easy playmates for our
rational thoughts, and I have oft-times entertained them like
welcome and wistful visitors ...
Brought into the foyer of my routine with open arms ... but
no more! Or at least not without the intense, dire and critical
inspection they're due. “Seasons” and “Expanse”, oh, I know
you well now, for you have spun and twisted and turned all
that's truly precious and dear and true ...
Into reasons to flounder and wade in the shallows, while an
ocean of elation and wonder sparkled before me! I have yet
ripped the blade from your gnarled hand! No longer will you
mutilate the fabric of my character, or take the prized and the
joyful to hold at arm's-length ...
While I stand teetering on the edge of self-imposed hell. You
are thus forever vanquished - destroyed at last and at length
by the embrace of my children, held and to hold with strength,
those miles and many moments purged with a course of tears,
washed loose and away with a runnel of weeping, joyous ...
Arms entwined with tenacious purpose, far too sure to NOT
squeeze away the hurt, questions, and misunderstanding that
the past created in their absence ... alas, I am hereafter and
henceforth reborn! I am now given life anew! These priceless,
sobbing bundles within my arms have restored my faith ...
The blessed, precious miracles far beyond value, filling these
lungs with breath as pure as winter moonlight ... they have
torn asunder every doubt, regret and resentment that those
febrile phantoms had danced around me in their stead for so
long ... so very, very long ...
I am set free! I am released to the knowledge of what it is, and
ALL that it is, that matters in this world - these amazing children,
mine, now here within the breadth of my grasp! Happy sobs and
tears and arms, mixed with love overwhelming, so wondrous and
adjoining that I cannot distinguish one from another ...
How could I have lost such true perfection? How could I have let
those demons commit such a crime against me and mine? Oh,
SO much missed out on, so much left to the wiles and apathy
of time's relentless passing ... but no more! No, never again! I
knew this incredible feeling once ...
Long ago, I knew it well and lost it ... but these extraordinary
creations of love and consummation, here within the circle of my
embrace, have rekindled the glowing embers of my heart! They
have restored the hope and reason and passion of my spirit, and
brought back a joy that exceeds all true experience ...
You, my dear, wonderful children, are so far beyond anything that
I deserve or am worthy of, and I will never, EVER forget this feel-
ing again, or let those accursed phantoms, “Time” and “Distance”,
steal you away from the core of my being and purpose. I have
locked you away forever in the round-tower of my soul ...
These tears we shed in exuberance, and the soft strength of our
embrace, will form the moat around the castle of love and fort-
ress of forgiveness that we now tenderly reconstruct ... together.
I adore you with the fullness of my heart, and love you with my life ...
The life you have given back to me.
~ 1st Place ~ in the "Dear Heart" Poetry Contest, Silent One, Judge & Sponsor.
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