Embrace

Nicholas Goodwin

I’m trapped in a black tube, eyes darting left to right (at least what I think is left to right)

My eyes have betrayed me, my mind left to guide me out of the impenetrable darkness

Fifty-pound weights sit across my shoulders

Malevolent depression drains the energy from my body

I fall on hard asphalt, rocks carving my knees like serrated knives

I feel the blood trickle down to my ankles.  It races down my feet and through my toes.  Where the hell are my shoes?

My bones turn to ice.  Where the hell are my clothes?  Where is anything?  There is no direction

A faint glimmer

A quick flick of light 

The lights went on, but the fuse blew out

A tunnel

With an opening

I chase the light like a wolf does its prey

Hope awaits at the end

The sun thaws my bones

Crimson legs

Burning lungs

A genuine smile across my face

The embrace of a lover

A moment of bliss

It will flee

But it will return

 (Special note for Sammy, I wrote the end of this, the light at the end of the tunnel, right after our phone call 4/25/2018)