Emily’s Verses

 I'm lonely, I'm lost, and I rage,

Nevermore with this world to engage.

My scars cannot heal

Behind thick rods of steel.

Oh, I'll rattle the bars of this cage.

I dream of the havoc I'll wreak

In the pale shafts of moonlight, so weak.

Slanted rays form in bars,

And the smouldering stars

Glower down at me: "Whisper — don't shriek."

Though my mind, in its bind, may be marred,

I would journey, though journeys are hard,

If I could, through the peace

And the blissful release

Of a world from which dreams were not barred.

That bite as my palms find the catch —

For a moment, I'm queen of this patch

Of the water that sings

As my butterfly swings.

Body, water: a rapturous match.