I’ve seen you in their smiles
Watched for it
Ached for it
That gleam
I know you’ve brushed past me
For I’ve smelt your perfume
Air so pure I couldn’t regulate my breath -
My breath -
My breathing
Wonder how many more times I can enter this race
Wandering around it - the thickness of darkness
Turn the light on
Turn the light on
Someone please turn the light on
I’ve glimpsed you
In mirrors
In my shadow
I’ve dreamt of you in colour but left waking with the ashes
I’ve got no tastebuds in a world that speaks in colour
The tip of my tongue
I know how to mimic you
Alter my voice so it sounds familiar
But my teeth are the gravestones where my truth lies buried
Ten steps behind in a maze I didn’t join
Trying to catch up - belted to a treadmill
Matching my steps to fool my mind
Can’t find you in the ordinary
Force it to be extra
I’ve studied you
A fairground ride I could never afford
Everything I’ve given in a fruitless trade
Burned what I could to smoke you out
Memorised your definition to chant it aloud
I’ve found you
The bend in the turn
I saw you
A speck
Round that corner
The next one
The next one
The next
Frozen terrain
Trudging through mud
A forever of corners
I chase after for every time
About the Creator
Sarah O'Grady
I like to play with words to escape reality. Or at least to try and make sense of it.
Debut Poetry Collection - '12:37' - Available on Amazon
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Comments (4)
I've seen you in THEIR smiles...(woe)
The senses are all in this poem The ache, the longing, the wanting....deep
Wooohooooo congratulations on your honourable mention! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
🔅I really do like how you built the anticipation in your poem. Then slowed it down with two words, 'That gleam'. - Such a sentimental and passionate verse. The perfume. Expressing how much you couldn't regulate your breath. 🔅 'My breath- my breath, my breathing' love this. It sound the way it was expressed. I could see the chest moving through the metre. 👌🏾 - this line was breath taking. 'I've dreamt of you in colour but left waking with the ashes.' 🔅 Alter my voice so it sounds familiar. Oooo I can tell the desperation, the need to be heard. - To smoke you out. Damn. So many original lines— made me read again to get that touch it gave. 🔅 I am completely and utterly blown away. This was so good. Your preferred style — your repetition, was kept all the way through. - Your words brought this feeling, this moment to life. The intensity could be felt and your original lines stood tall. Outstanding work Sarah. 🤗❤️🖤