Choices

This is a continuation of River Styx, Desert Red, Waste/Safe Land, Harlequin and My Knight.

We travelled

mostly in silence

chirps of birds

chittering of squirrels

sometimes the only sound I heard.

I sensed

felt

knew

that somehow I disappointed

this gentle giant.

I did not know how

nor what I could do

to rectify my mistakes.

We avoided cities

towns

any sign of civilization

until the abuse done to me

physical abuse

had healed.

The scars on my mind

woke me

screaming in the night

from nightmares

where Harlequin still ruled.

He began to train me.

Sword.

Knife.

Skulking.

Shadow hopping.

Every conceiveable way

I could now

protect myself from harm.

I woke one morning

to find him gone

disappeared

into the mists of my past.

I walked alone

ruing my mentor‘s departure

for I still did not know……

where I was?

who I was?

what journey

what choices must I make?

Sept. 18/18

Photo by Anders Nord on Unsplash

My Knight

***This is a continuation of This poem is a continuation from River Styx, Desert Red and Waste/Safe Land and Harlequin.

My mind in tatters

no longer content

I suffer at the hands

the feet

the vile wit

of Harlequin.

Fettered

handcuffed

shackled

I am merely a toy

a vain prop

to make a mad man appear sane.

None talk to me

none will come to my aid

I sit alone

dirty

scared

invisible to all that prance before the chief.

Sure that I was forever entrapped

slowly going insane

my knight in shining armor

he finally appeared.

Harlequin tried to protest

to gloss over

the horrors he had done.

The Knight

unsheathed his sword

shattered my chain in one swift blow.

Turning

his sword made a graceful arc

as he beheaded Harlequin

while I cried

cheering at his death.

Sept. 17/18

Photo by Henry Hustava on Unsplash