Salt And Ink

Threshold

I felt my jaws embrace each other

I felt my feet give away

I felt the veins turn iron hard

I felt my body sway.

Not the searing, scorching Loo outside

Could twin my burning soul;

I watched as a powerful burst of wind

Slammed shut my bedroom door.

I staggered, breaths coming in spurts

And turned to the window open

And tried to make the most of my time

Right to my final second.

Wise choice; for soon my frame doubled

In the heat of a million knives

And so, body churning with pain

Upon my bed I lied.

I closed the lids, and tried to call

The angel of blissful sleep,

But no; it skimmed straight o'er my eyes-

Peace was not mine to keep.

I stayed awhile, I tried to smile

For the sole sake of my son,

For I didn't want a twisted face to greet

His eyes when he returned.

It was getting hard, for me to command

My twitching muscles to move

I let them be, I set them free-

I felt the veins break loose.

And my wretched mind, stopped trying to find

The thin line that divides

The images fed to you from without

And those conjured inside.

And I dismounted from my train of thought

And turned my gaze upward

I felt my breaths strike the crescendo

Just as the doorknob turned.

I heard the steps freeze in the threshold

I felt a muffled crash

Of glass; breaking with a breaking heart,

Of feelings turned to ash;

I wanted to hold his sturdy arm;

And melt in his scorching gaze

One final sight, before the bright

Flames danced, untamed, ablaze.

But no, I think it's mandatory

For one unfulfilled wish

To plague your soul, before you board

The train to eternal bliss.

And thus caged in my dried-up skin

My withered soul set out

I watched the scarlet Sun go down-

And journeyed to the clouds.