Silenced

There’s a quiet that encases a soul as it slips into the reprieve of sleep
A hush that surrounds and protects as the consciousness falls dormant
Comfortable and deliberate hibernation
Into that space sometimes grows the yin to the yang
The darkness invokes it, provokes it
Howled platitudes
Gnashed peace

Credible defensive shields born in between grow frail and wisp away
Illusions of safe harbor fading into an ever-growing caterwaul and clamor
Powerless accusations
Impotent dignity

Reflection of a far away voice blaring sideways through the dark
A cherry tobacco-scented deliberation of shamed suppression
You can’t tell
I won’t tell
You better not tell

Out of all the improbable moments saturated through with pain
Should these be the words a rational mind resurrects
It’ll kill them
I’ll kill them
I’ll kill you

Curried favor from emotional labor facilitates a blatantly false balance
While misplaced conviction refutes the relieving satisfaction of strife and anger
Subjugated compulsion
Tattered modesty

The invaded psyche recoils in vain from red-stained lies and fear
Dreams and themes of past days rush in and overwhelm
Unstoppable as the high tide
Until there’s no difference between then-versus-now
Too few did-nots offsetting the uneven column of dids
There’s only always
Forever stretching forward

The diminished and reduced mind slowly ascends from the chaos extant in slumber
Waking anguish of irrefutable memories dissolves as experiences repack themselves
The heart using smaller and smaller boxes
Clasping to each tiny blade until safely folded away
Sharp reminders swept free by the high winds of waking
Rising constrictor
Tapered restraint

Yawning into survival with back bowed
Nocturnal threats disarmed by daylight