The Escape

The Escape

I remember the window

with its dirty panes

staring out from the side of the old house

The window that has bombarded my memory

through my dreams and the flashes of thoughts

that show up when I don’t want them.

I asked her if that was the window

that we left through

She says “No, that is

The window we planned through”

We escaped through the front door.

The front door?

Escaped?

I did not know we had escaped.

I thought we left the hellish place

by free will alone.

Escape!

Makes it sound like our lives were in danger.

I missed the flashing warning sign.

She cries and apologizes.

She just kept saying “I didn’t know.”

“I never meant for you to hurt.”

“How could you not know?”

All she can say is, “I did not know,

I would have left sooner.”

I begin to feel like a refugee,

escaping the horror

that engulfed our lives.

Thunder

Sounds of thunder rain down around me

I do not flinch

Soothing reverberations make my eyelids droop

I feel purified as the sound envelopes me into daydreams

On a street somewhere

Sounds of thunder rain down around her

She flinches

Mind-numbing reverberations make her eyelids close

She feels scared and nauseated and prays it is all a dream

One woman bathes in the peace of thunder

She quietly sleeps as peace enters her mind

The other screams and runs from thunder

As she realizes that peace no longer walks with her

Ode to Humidity

I step out the door and at once my breath is stolen from me.

Humidity slips down my throat and clamps off passages of air.

It grips my chest like a hellish demon.

I try to run, to get away.

But, humidity slows me down, making escape slow and unbearable.

It tightens and sings "I am not finished with you."

I feel myself getting dreadfully close to falling on the grass,

which is shining and reflecting the sun like a mirror.

I make it to the car and open the door.

Humidity laughs and says, "I live in here too."

Then finally as I take off at breakneck speeds, humidity's grip loosens.

It follows me down the road in waves upon the asphalt.

Oh, humidity, won't you please leave?

Why?

WHY?

I watch the news

I cry

I keep watching night after night

They keep fighting

BUT WHY?

Land?

Religion?

Annihilation of a people?

Conflicts that go so far back in time

That no one remembers why.

The historians can give an idea

But no one really knows?

It is not worth it!

Why is life not more important?

Can they not just STOP?

I want to tear my eyes away from the carnage

But I can not.

I feel that the only way I can contribute

Is to keep a mournful vigil

In front of my TV

And cry.