---

George Lewis Avery

---

life - for all its mentoring
is my tormentor
for it keeps me hostage
in a cramped antechamber
with no windows to gaze out of
whereby i might plot my escape
there are no gulls on the horizon
no panoramas
no sights
no sounds
no smells
wafting in from the sea
from where i sit
palely loitering
i can only imagine
by smudging black ink
on yellowing parchment
as my candle flickers
[wavering] in the damp draft
of my shallowed breathing
my lungs afraid to [surge]
surge against the light
of the nurturing flames
held aloft by the torch bearers
who bring my daily gruel
faceless custodians
whose ethereal silhouettes
dance in agonozing pantomime
on the gray walls of my prison
-
as they pass i hold my breath
if only i had the courage to live
and by living die

.oeg ©