Poem: Careful Not To Slip
*Disclaimer: This is a concept piece inspired by the score “Time” by Hans Zimmer, please note, the video recording is not high quality and I do not own the music. All words are mine.
link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q7GvMC72E8&t=44s
Careful…not to slip into the shade of night…
….the words fall away. They retreat to the back of my mind, eager to rest.
I am left with myself, in this dark room, staring into the blackness of night...
I let what is left of my mind wander around in the nothingness, searching the sea of ebony for answers
Questioning the skies beyond my window…
Diving into the great mysteries of our existence and meticulously challenging the equations of life itself.
Ah, distracted by knowledge or folly? There are no words, no feeling, no worry…only calculation.
In the shade of night, there is comfort in intellect.
My thoughts are carried away into a silenct world of contemplation..and here, there is no emptiness in the nothingness.
Careful….not to dip too much into the irrationality of the soul.
Resist the urge to feel, for now.
That’ll only keep me up longer.
Memories are packed away in the boxes at the edge of my room.
Pushed to the side in a neatly, untouched piles.
Immovable, permanently sealed.
Careful….not to set them free into the shade of night….
The last time I set them free, they erratically bounced around the room, off the walls and directly into my chest.
They shot through me like an arrow, demanding to be felt.
They dragged me from my peaceful reverie and disturbed my philosophical silence.
There they are, hidden in plain sight, remaining ever present in my peripheral.
Careful…they twist themselves into unlikely visions.
The memories morph into a candelabra. They flicker as the wicks of each freshly lit candle.
I have no choice but to hold it steady in the night, to light the way…
But..careful….not to hold them too close.
They become the weight of hot coals piled on my breasts, black as the air, red as a setting august sun.
They burn fiercely around the edges of my being.
They morph back into boxes.
They haunt me in the corner of the room, until I am forced to revisit them.
Rip back the tough paper edges and release them.
Finally loose from their cages—
my irises trace the face of another, over cheekbones and lips.
I stare at an imperfect silhouette against the subtle glow of the city.
A shadow tells me a thousand tales of pain and glory before vanishing into a beautiful rising sun.
The faint, steady sound of a beating heart pounds along with mine.
A child tugs me down into the waves at the beach.
The ocean rolls over the sands around us.
I am against a tree, gazing out at a world of green.
The shade of night returns.
I’m in a warm bed and loving hug wraps me up….
Balloons fill the room…. I’m at celebration of a bride and groom…
I’m among a crowd of long lost friends.
The leftover laughter from a each gathering rings in my ears.
A lover that never was grabs my hand…
And the moments slip in and out of the darkness….invading my intellect.
Transporting me from the “now” to the “then”, a timeless trip from present to past,Stumbling back and fighting my way forth…
I falling into memories and feel everything…I miss. I love. I laugh. I desire. I cry. I smile. I scream.
Careful…not to let emotion become an imposter…
It will steal the peaceful ambiance of my solitude….
Careful… not to slip from blissful aloneness into irrevocable loneliness.
Careful…not to slip into the shade of night…