Forgotten

**The above picture is mine taken at Matlock Beach Manitoba last summer**

I wander through streets

littered with debris.

I see children with hollow eyes

scavaging in the gutters.

I see women who have given up hope

who must use their bodies

solely so they can feed their children.

Those same children I watched

catch and kill a rat,

than cook it over an open flame.

I see men

so disillusioned with the world

that the smell of alcohol

seeps from their very pores

as they self-medicate.

Pride has been stripped from the people

dignity has been unraveled

in place a pious disregard

by others in the human race.

©Jay-lyn Doerksen

Unbidden Tears

Back to the wall

shadows creeping in closer

watching the covered figure sleep.

She slides down the wall

tears seeping unbidden.

Restless, the figure stirs, mumbling in its sleep

the words indistinguishable beneath the sighs

Tossing and turning sudden sounds of fear

and still she watches.

The blackness begins to creep throughout the room

covering the figure on the bed

The woman stands trying to claw her way free

but there is to be no release.

Bowing her head she gives into the shadows

allowing the feelings of hatred, despair

loathing and disregard for her well being

To find the toe holds and chinks in the armour.

The figure on the bed turns, and she beholds herself

wrapped in a cocoon of black shadows

of feelings so strong, so torrential

and still unbidden tears do seep.

 

©Jay-lyn Doerksen February 2017