A Break in the Treeline

Photo By: Jacqueline Day

When Cancer found me,

He pulled me by the wrist up high where the air is thin.

He showed me the movement in the world;

the sun and the rain and the wind,

but reminded me that I felt nothing.

He kept me awake in the night until I begged for sleep.

Until my skin and bones were an anthill on the bathroom floor.

Until the snot ran down my chin like tears.

You are alone. You are alone. You are alone.

He strapped me down and spoon-fed me

Injustice, confusion, and rage

Until I was too full to move.

He told me this is all there is.

He pushed me down a dark trail called "Why?"

where I stumbled and felt my way around for months

to find that there was no end,

only a loop back to the beginning.

I am still lost somewhere in that forest,

but l am taking my time now.

I have found a break in the tree line.

A beam of light.

All I can hear from here is the longing of the world.

The weight of the desire to love and be loved,

to see and be seen.

I feel it echoing off the curve of the earth.

I hear the voices of others lost in their own forests

And I shout,

"You are not alone! You are not alone!"

By Nightbirde aka Jane Marczewski

Photo By: Jacqueline Day