#poem #poetry #amwriting divine comedy - canto 8

canto 8

locked in a room
hearing lives roll around
in braying cries
the lacking pound of doom

head in hands
the dreams revisit
this time more honest
of my faults

in each offered passage
between the life evolved
in the shadows and the diverts
a pearl bearing clam
prized open now
by prison dirty fingers

now that name I spat with ire
sticking to me disgrace drooling
of all superiority inversed

now each unkindness shrinks me small
and bent of back
with plucked eyen
until in blindness
I call out in pleading fright
to touch another however briefly
share a smile in casual exchange
to repair the hurt
of friendship strained

now the flies extinguished
buzz malicious
surrounding round my fractured spirit
I carry heavier than tired feet

forgiveness is the sweetest fruit
but one more choked
than tasted

yet for all the desire to escape this room
I cannot accept humility


The Blue Book