Fear – Page 16 – Iron Haiku

Chemo

a black bitter pill
taken with a glass of bile-
so hard to swallow
–
november morn-
the push is over
now I taste salt.

jewels in the darkness-
a scattering of diamonds
in the shattered glass
–
winter‘s eve-
moonlight dances
on the fallen snow

just another day
thoughts and prayers for the dead while
no one does a thing
–
a quiet morning-
evil flourishes
in the silence

open before me
the pages of my journal
blank and foreboding
–
onshore winds-
sand and shells
in the roiling surf

documenting war-
pages inked with the spilled blood
of the innocent
–
shimmering heat –
blood pools
in the desert sand

staring at the clock
trying to understand the
cruelty of time
–
aching for sleep-
minutes collect
in piles on the floor

the living desert-
waves carried across the sand
by wind on the dunes
–
tumbleweeds-
a mindless expanse
of lifeless sand

I can’t sleep at all
visions of the restless dead
inhabit my dreams
–
moon shadows-
a raven robed
in cobwebs

no one’s allowed in-
there’s only room for me in
this suit of armor
–
swift water-
armored scales
dimple the surface

sunday afternoon
on the line the week’s washing
left out in the rain
–
empty bottles-
even the baby
has stopped crying