CLOAK

The dark cloak of despair has enveloped me.

The threads of hopelessness, the cloth of anger, the material of disenchantment, all have surrounded,and are slowly suffocating the breath from my body.

A body weakened by the battles and struggles of life,the fight of ridding my soul of this entrapment.

But the blanket, returns ,shielding my soul from the sun, the joy.

Hints and slivers peeking through, only to be cut off, by cloak as I begin to enjoy the warmth.

When I will be rid this shroud that holds me back from the glimpses of paradise that pervade my eyes just infrequently enough to tease me, yet never long enough to draw the warmth into my soul to gain the strength I need.

The power inside me, once strong, now lessened by these battles.

I reach out..my hands, my arms, in a cry for help,only to be suppressed, muffled by reality, and darkness that returns

Where is that strength, the force from outside, that gives strength through the cover..feeds my soul, refreshing it, to gain what I so richly desire, and deserve

Or will the cloak finally suffocate my soul and heart, piercing me with its chilling blades, having only allowed me to briefly taste the pleasure but never basking in it.

The black icy fingers, finally relieving the pain, denying the pleasureinone final blow

JerS (1998)