I was drawn by the moon’s moods;
Mesmerised;
Held captive more firmly in the mind’s chains
Than fetters binding my body
Against the lure of her lunacy.
I raged – enslaved by the demons of my compulsion:
Fleeing naked past the safe houses of apparent sanity.
Primeval werewolf haunting the tombs,
Seeking elusive light; searching residual remains
For missing links of a right mind.
Sometimes depression hovered like a maddening darkness
Until my eyes glazed and strained in the heat
Of pains’ warring in my mind.
I mutilated my body seeking to sever
The grim grip of fear:
Sought by a letting of blood
Freedom from anguish coursing through my veins.
Sometimes despair surged like a reckless wind
Above the sea’s calm breathing,
Goading the caress of her waves
To a violence of foaming breakers;
Tearing the crusted shore with undisciplined power,
Demented and immeasurable strength.
It was after such a storm
When the sea was a child sleeping
After a passing fever, a man came to my troubled shore;
Rebuked my elemental captors with the calm of a stilling word;
Drew pain from me as thorns that plagued my flesh.
I saw terror rush in the mindless flight of swine
And dungeoned in far vaulted depths
Fathoms beyond my reach.
Today I move volitionally –
Witness to the unchained
Power of a loving word.
© 2011 John McCabe |
