IN MY HIDING PLACE

IN MY HIDING PLACE

In my hiding place, secluded from those who say they love me,
In this cozy space, apart from the ones who once held my heart.
I long for their forgiveness, but I know not where to start.

The relentless rain of regret pours down my cheeks like a flurry.
The world wants my soul, but I'm in no hurry to give it.

The trespassers want my castle, like knights of yore they besiege it.
My enemies want my heart, like bloodsuckers they come and they bleed it.

I am drifting, lonely as a withered leaf,
Stripped of my pride and of what's underneath,
Detritus and rusted metal.

My foot lunges for the brake pedal,
But slowly I come crashing,
Running through the stoplights
And the red that they keep flashing.

My hands they try in vain to steer,
But stiff and stained and rusted by the rain,
I submit to my fate, ruined and murdered here.

Here in the dark castle, I submit to my chains,
To the fabled past I stick and adhere.
It has not been my finest decade,
Nor my finest year.

And the post-it note I left for you, 
Taped with a rose to your back door,
Is written in some foreign tongue
And the petals stain your hardwood floor.

There is nothing left but to mourn your loss,
I lay here stretched upon my cross,
Here in my hiding place,
Secluded from you who say you love me.

-Bruce Potts
Revised Copyright 2014
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED