LOCKED AWAY

I am inside my body looking out, or outside looking in, trying to hide the woman I’ve become. Two persons in one body changing hourly, as life’s swing transforms the lame, mute soul into fleeting perfection. ‘On’, movements feign normality and I find a place in the busy, world: though not for long. ‘Off’ reality is Lord: I am possessed, held by chains, binding the very heart, controlling every pulse. Cluttered speech distorts the thoughts that do not reach my tongue that has become a shroud Uncooperative lips accompany the smile, felt, but unseen, falsely portraying me a misery. I am a prisoner whose cage is one’s own body, forced to dance a dervish or held close, motionless. Fleetingly, moments of peace tease as hope leaps into belief that all is well. No escape is there, no second path to follow. as locked out, or locked in, I am alone, an isolate, Looking out or looking in at a body without life, as future, present, past merge into one