the mind's recesses

Rotten

Dedicated to Reade12 , since she liked this one.

***

They pulled at my hair,
And my clothes,
And my slightly over-large shoes.
And their tugs were painful,
And left marks
And left me bruised.
And their smiles were cold
And empty
And without any feeling.
And their whacks and punches
And scratches
Left my head reeling.

And it hurt me for a long time,
Until it was normal
And the shock was forgotten.
So I asked for an answer,
And they told me that my insides
Were rotten.
And it continued:
Day after day after day
After day after day.
And it clung to me.
And choked me,
So that there was nothing to say.

And I felt the tears
And the agony,
And left it to lie forgotten.
And they whispered to me -
To my insides -
That I was rotten.
And I wished for someone to see.
To notice and make amends,
To help my state.
And I found nothing:
No person who could hold my hand,
Could hold my fate.

And it weighed me down
Like an anchor
In uncharted waters and seas.
And I longed for it to finish.
To be ended.
To be freed.
And so my life went on,
Meaningless and pointless
And forgotten.
And my thoughts turned to my insides,
And I saw it all lying there.
Lying rotten.

And it was not a surprise
But a revelation!
A rejoiced moment.
And my discovery was remembered
By only me,
And the years were gone and spent.
And with their taunts echoing on
Disturbingly endless and cruel
(And with nothing left to do).
I couldn't hold on or go on,
So I escaped into the comforting nothing
Of bright white-blue.

And so it was heard
For a while afterwards
Of a high-jump from somewhere.
And people gossiped and blamed
Social media -
But they didn't really care.
And soon it was over
And the tale was left,
Abandoned and forgotten.
And so I looked to my insides
And saw it all as it was always:
Rotten.