Erosion – Poem (2009)

Born

imbued with natural tendencies toward

falling,

falling in love.

Fresh from womb,

a breach birth.

Predestined to be head over heels.

I had no idea how much my heart would bleed.

I fell for him

at first sight.

His weathered skin

peppered beard

shifted like dunes

blown aside by the winds of a smile.

An anticipation fulfilled.

Eroded was the cold sediment that had settled

an adornment worn in wrinkles.

I sought nothing more

than he, my hero.

Until I understood

that his mystery was a lie.

The truth pierced me

my vision,

shrouded

I

impaled upon my own

steely injustice.

Hardened carbon dissecting my hope

with unnerving precision

my entrails left to rot

my heart cataclysmically broken.

I was scoured

my soul worn opaque

by the grit of truth

a bitter paste of truth an ash.

Flavors that were carried

traversed across the lips

of lovers made wary

by my scorched love,

turned away

turned away

carried on the road left ahead of me

empty.

Visions of a road awash with sand

fleeting loves

I was drawn to them

and quartered

quartered again

left as bits and pieces,

microscopic.

Throw my heart in the air

you may see a rainbow

reflected.

‘Tis only a mirage.

I

myself

the grit

ground into the pads of my feet

I

a life

born breach,

I came head over heels

in love

in love.

I dreamed of a man with no face

his soul

my soul

and a kiss that tasted

of nothing

of darkness.

Cataract blind,

I fell in love

again

again

lost in a sea of brown

green

blue eyes

a crumbling facade

eroded.

Look closely,

inscribed upon my soul is a hearbeat

the sound

of shattered pavement.

© 2009 by Michelle R. Ferris