.
Come wandering.
Too long
you have let your pleasure
sit you,
holed up in your
palace of disdain.
No love breaching your walls,
a fortress of disorder.
Your laugh
becomes a cough.
Choking on bitterness
and irony.
You used to see humor,
until sarcasm
became your tainted methadone.
Played upon your victimhood.
You,
to whom every door
was rent from its hinges
before you.
You,
who claimed power,
and influence,
and broke the hearts
of all who tried
to keep your company.
A victim?
Sure.
But, only of yourself.
Deception played you deftly,
only because
it found in you
a willing participant.
You used to be
a wild thing,
and one of the ways
the world
tames and captivates
wild things
is to break them.
So, here you are.
An exhibit in the menagerie
of broken creatures.
Hidden away,
no longer decent
for display.
Your cruel bitterness
has changed you
from a trophy,
to a pet,
to a yard animal.
Come wandering with me.
Shake of the consequence
of “Could have beens”
and crumbling destinies.
Stand up,
walk outside,
and realize
that the shackles of despair
with which you have chosen
to adorn yourself,
are rusted through
and easily broken.
Come with me.
I will show you
what it means
to be wild again.
We can chase shadows
by moonlight,
climb mountains,
and try to catch the sky.
We will drink the clear waters
of places in this world
that still remain
uncorrupted.
Give up your privilege
and your entitlement.
Forget your gifts
and your disappointments.
Out here,
all things live and die
as a consequence
of their heart,
and their soul,
and their actions.
Soon enough,
you will no longer
be toxic.
You will be refined
by sun,
and wind,
and rain,
into that pure
free,
and wild thing
again.
HG – 2022
