Carried Away
14 December 2025
https://poems.culturing.net/2025/12/carried-away/
I would like to believe, I really would, but the darkness
consumes all but hope, the delusions of life made anew.
I am talking to you, but not really, to some lonely
phantom, the shadow of other yous. It's no use. I can make it
without explanations. I can't fight my truths. I must go
to the edge of the city, to the top of the mountain,
where gods and men first met, and no lover can follow me there.
It's no use to despair, it won't matter, my heart is pulled thither,
and no song, not even my own, can assuage the affliction.
I ask you to leave me to suffer whatever I must endure,
because not even you have the cure. I am summoned,
the Muse enraptures, and I must be carried away.
--
A fall of snow blankets the world in white,
ancient symbol of innocence...still it does not feel quite right,
does not answer my doubts with a sudden courage
or make straight the path I must travel. I would
that the snow would fall faster and leave no trace of sin,
but it has not that power. At this very hour, some crime
is committed in every part of the world. So fall, snow.
Make your peace. But we know it won't last.
--
Like a fly in amber, I wait for my heart to decide.
It is too late to hide. Any action/inaction will be scrutinized,
and I am like one on display in a frozen cage.
State your case, I'll state mine, and the chips will fall
in chaotic fashion, as these things must always be. Don't you see?
It's too late to go free, or to ask the right question
once one has gone fully underwater. We must let it dry
and not even conceive of returning to have another try
until both sides solidify.
--
So that answers it, then, for the present, but I
must be cautious. I must not break free from restraints
or yank on the temple's supporting pillars. Delilah
has many other names, but her face is the same
as Penelope's, at least from a distance. Trust has not been earned.
We would have to step back and first fill in those blanks
before love could be safely endeavored. Who are you?
And why do you interest me so?
--
Feeling of course is worth something, but will not suffice
without truth, plain and simple. It will not survive. We must know
that we stand on firm ground. But perhaps this is asking too much.
We are creatures of mystery, you and I, and we like our disguises.
But this is important, too important to allow ambiguity, at least in the long run.
And we want a long run, don't we?
