I tried so very hard to make it
Damn near impossible to envision
Small, shriveled hands
Pounding ruthlessly on
A thick, unmoving back
But how can I?
When muffled cries and moans of agony
Spill from beneath shaking hands
Retelling the horrid deeds
Committed thoughtlessly
Over a vast and unnerving plain of years
A heart’s thirst remains unquenched
For the rich drink of a mother’s love
Cold, grey eyes unwillingly absorb
The details, the sequence
Red-faced we remain
To catch the falling pieces
And grasp them fiercely
Before they too slip
Between the forgotten cracks
Of our fingers
Ignorance will not allow me to bide in its house
So I collapse wearily in the road
And allow the bombardment of memories
To collapse my meticulously fashioned shield
Until there is nothing more