Poem-A-Day: Waiting for Catharsis

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Image result for magnolia tree roots

Waiting for Catharsis

Roethke said that in a dark time, 
the eye begins to see.
There are no stars gleaming
under the Milky Way tonight.

Two days ago we buried you.
Under the roots of a magnolia tree,
your still white body takes hold;
Plans painstakingly laid for the decline and fall
of my southern civilization.

I weep for the loss of you.
For a  boy who never knew me
for a father crumbling away
for a grandfather gone.
For it all.

My demons have come to a head.
They are frothing, screaming,
Tearing away at the walls I have built
to hide them for so long.

I am stalled, stalled.

These are crises the mind cannot solve,
and my heart, torn to pieces,
is unreliable.

I feel the shadow of Death lie weary over me;
a dark arm reaching to sweep all into the forgiving sea
Leaving behind only the wasteland
the left-behind stasis
in the sunlight of reality.

 This poem is a companion piece to The Gathering. Read it here.

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