Swallowed Whole

Pain swallowed
And swallowed hard

Taking all reason
Taking all compassion
Taking all soul

Till there was nothing left
Except the crumbling shell of what once was

Despite all the ghostly protesting to the contrary
Pain had won the prize
And sat contented with a full belly

In the Eye of Self-Isolation

One solitary figure guiding a vessel
Self-governing and alone at the helm
Through rolling and heaving of waves
Thrashing of winds and lashing of rain

Just hold on as you were taught is muttered through clenched teeth

Piloting through to the centre
Through to the eye of the storm
A place dark and eerily still
Charged air heavy on the lungs

A mere moment of time, a single thread weighted down by suspension

Muffled noises from below
Rise up to tug for attention
Must be the mind playing tricks
A stiff back is turned to them

"Not the time for nonsense and madness" a mind silently screams

But nonsense and madness defy time and logic
The eye becomes rife with their chorus rebellion
Voices invoke song and flesh and bone
And they dance out from shadow and gather round

Now is the time ~ We need you ~ You need us, the Chorus sings

The Time and Space that is us

The strands of our experiences

Like threads of raw silk

Weave themselves into intricate webs

They swirl in and out of our days
Sticky and ghost like

  
Some slip by but some cling 

Bridging the past

 To the present
The time and space that is us

Making it difficult to remember

 We now prowl freely