Shuffling down the hallway
Each plodding step heavier than the last.
Jangling, chafing, restraining chains.
This is where my feet have brought me
Consequent to split-second volition
How I wish I could turn back the clock
But alas friendship with time
Is only a one-way street.
I rode high; I had it all
Fame, fortune, front-page news.
Many had hung onto my spoken word~
The very words that now hang over my head.
How did I get here?
How could I have drifted so far?
Bars clanged shut,
Locked with a twist of finality,
Home new home!
Unwelcome digs, in more ways than one:
No warmth rising to greet, only dampness filth and stench.
Patterns in the ceiling, Images formed
Of what could have been but was not,
What should have been, but could now not.
Eerie voices of wounded spirits,
Named, faced, Shouts, mournful wails...
Echoing in the hallways of my mind.
Condemnation indelibly etched on cold gray walls.
The Drip, drip, drip of constant accusations
Pounding holes into my tortured soul.
The only escape: a dark repose.
Transported to another world
One my heart yearns for:
Lights, joy, peace and hope
Even as I know, that it is but a mirage.
Reluctantly awakening my eyes alight
On a worn and frayed envelope
And written on it were the words
‘OPEN ME’…
I pulled out the sheet inside.
These were the words I read:
‘I forgive you
I love you
I see your sin no more
A heart of flesh instead of stone
I will transform you.
I will reform you for mine
I took your place
I bore your sin
That you may be redeemed.
I will help you if you turn to me.
Place your hand inside of mine
I’ll walk you all the way back home.
My love for you knows no bounds
And there is no sin that I cannot forgive,
No stain I cannot cleanse.
My love for you knows no end.
I AM, The One, who loves you most of all.'
The two thousand and fifty-fifth day dawned bright
The rays of the sun bathing the new day,
Casting the only the slightest of shadows.
It is time to return, my journey back begins.
I take a last look around, strangely nostalgic.
Such precious times in this hellhole,
Which was rightly my penance for dastardly deeds.
My confinement, my refuge
The womb of my rebirth.
My last look, my legacy to the lost.
Laid against the grey-tombed pillow
Which many times had muffled
My anguished prayers and sorrowful sobs...
A pristine envelope
Marked with words I had seen before:
A lifeline for the next lost soul,
Words boldly written, clearly seen
‘OPEN ME’…
© AdePero Mettabel, Originally written 2012,
Rewritten February 27th, 2016.
