Into the Black

if you suddenly found yourself interrupted
all consumed in a hospital bed of longing
a languish vessel held by machines of limbo
draining and aware in the creeping desolate close
with no faith in opiate fables of salvation
just questions unattended and memories faint touch scraping

when the light switch clicks abandon you in doused dim
and the years come in shadows clawing up white walls
will they curl tight? convulsed and spitting stories
of a life spent neglecting guilt-bruised nature
of lying still in self made cages / of normal numb
sucking on the fumes of unmet promise
amassing waste and holding back your words

or will they dance and rise wild and raging?
with fertile and toiled earth stuck beneath the finger nails
cataloged in the wealth of people and places
exonerated by the draw of the unfamiliar

with a new birthmark of ever-whispered connection
go burning to the black reaping void
one hundred lives wouldn't be enough