The iron beam

so heavy the moment
how do I call and say
I can't bear it
the weight
of the moment
the weight
of all the memories of my life
the heart
pitted like a moon
with impact, shock
and debris

how do the bones
hold it all up - the
weight of the years
bearing down

and all the holes in the soul,
the spaces hollowed
you'd think they make you
light
but they are heavy
as rock
crushing your back

and the mind so full
to bursting that
there is no room in there
for any new

the weight of memory
sagging at the guy ropes
to stop it breaking
free like a balloon

so you dissipate
in air and space
drift up and away

I am pegged-down today
a Gulliver
pinned by the weight
of all that I am
all I have been

every loss
engraved on the iron

One Year Round The Sun
Return to Collections all
next poem