The Tempest – A Hellish Journey Into The Darkness
Howling winds pounding incessantly on the dirty window panes
The constant rattling a reminder of the frailty of security
A glass barrier, thin and resilient….to a point
Much like the invisible walls that surround my life
Mayhem from modern activities my personal windstorm
Dust, as the remnants of those times where things just happened
Messy things; things that left more than just a paper trail
As I sit here silently contemplating my escape plan
The pitch of the gale rises to something fevered and askew
Concentration a foregone conclusion, as it comfort
I scratch and tug at my shirt as if trying to lessen its pull
My throat feeling tight and my chest constricted
Aching muscles a symphony of pain, erupting simultaneously
Coupled with a stiffness in my lower back
And the headache that rises up just enough, but not too much
So its presence is known, but isn’t quite debilitating yet
The air feels thinner than usual, or does it?
My focus point, a moving target which even I cannot pinpoint
Again I sip from an empty glass, only a few cubes of ice
Stirring my thoughts to possible action, before quashing it
Anchored to my chair is where I must remain
Despite the draft from the window, another reminder
A tempest, with all its power playing a dual role tonight
On the outside it’s obviously something beyond my control
While inside my fragile walls, another rages within
My keyboard glowing with artificial light
An empty page staring back at my empty head
Jumbled sentences collide with thoughts of ambiguity
Witty phrases entangled with poignant thoughts
And since I’m alone, nothing offers a comforting guide
The silo of creativity seems to have been upended
Its contents scattered in the prevailing winds
Heavy rains driving the rising thoughts downward
In torrential walls of impenetrability and seclusion
Nothing remains but the damp and cold emotions
The darkness; and those words which are rarely spoken
As the hours pass, the raw nerve throbs, demanding
Attention to detail, attention to something else
And so tenuously my hands flutter above the keys
One word, just a single word to ignite the engine
Hunt, peck, hunt, and peck again, slowly and deliberately
Stronger as one sentence leads to two, and then three
Dark words are still words and the list begins to grow
Anger, malice, and tales of destruction generating noise
Droning out the pounding weather, or perhaps merging
With the tempest outside becoming the tempest inside
Feeding the darkness with a maelstrom of text
Conventional wisdom a foregone conclusion
A runaway engine producing noxious smoke and lethal fumes
My soul a prisoner within as the darkness consumes
The chill now welcomed as it cools the stoked fires
Madness creeping in as my fingers pound the letters
Damning each line as part of some unholy scripture
That which is not accepted is my reality
That which is unclean, debaucherously delicious
That which is avoided at all costs, now embraced
And madness is now my certainty as I keep typing
Transfixed eyes unable to focus on anything else
The narrative grows and grows with an unseen energy
Mountainous in projection and horrible in execution
Yet the darkness screams and shrieks in my head
Demanding more energy than I’m prepared to give
Shaking without control, I continue my nefarious journey
Merely a vessel, nothing more left to give
I write the tales of doomsday and destruction
No happy endings, no knight in shining armor
Only darkness, blood, gore and complete destruction
Transfixed on somehow finding completion
An exit strategy from the mayhem and murder
Trapped on the front lines of my imaginary battlefield
Shell shocked by my own mind’s creations
Screaming and screaming as my psyche is ripped apart
Letters and words spilling from my open wounds
As I crawl aimlessly looking for sanctuary
Sentences streaming from widening gashes
Drying like words etched in a granite headstone
My very own trail of tears my final calling card
At last, breathless, and drained on everything
My final breath, my last words….the end
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Wow! From deepest darkness, the madness grows. This is chilling, Ralph, and very well penned.
Thanks – it’s a strange duality, madness that is……
As they say Ralph, better out than in. Lol. Oh many a night I have penned such dark and disturbing thoughts, one needs to vent, to explore the malevolence within. Nicely emoted and expressed in fine verse my friend.
RJ,
This is incredible imagery! I felt that I was experiencing it for myself, and this was not necessarily a “pleasant” excursion, but it definitely woke me up! This is absolutely amazing poetry!