Pressure steaming hot like a burning kettle
Nowhere to go
Stays inside
Making me melt into my bones
Pressure is on, gotta stay on top
All your work can’t be for nothing,
But it certainly feels exhausted into nothing
Yes, like the melted down bones.
I never gave up
Even when my battered fish lungs were carried in the desert air;
I never gave up
Even when my blue-bird call
The soft, quavering kew
Was torn apart in the waves of the salty brine of the hot Red-Sea,
I never gave up when my body was thrown through the house of your torment
To gather up your fraught-lightning grip
To steal my heart from others,
I still cannot give up,
Though I am exhausted,
My words are frost-bitten, torn, mangy, old,
The mystic river that sounds off my deceased brother from a thousand years ago,
And your brother,
Dreaming of the muddy mess of the mighty Mississippi gleaming off its shadowy mysteries that steep low and wide,
Exhausted by the hard truths it has had to carry.
About the Creator
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More stories from Melissa Ingoldsby and writers in Poets and other communities.
Miss Persephone's Manual to a Seemingly Ordinary Life
Miss Persephone was found at the dining table, her blue eyes swollen, her tears arriving and retreating like the tides of the ocean. Earlier that day, her family had visited her in the retirement home where she had lived for eight years. It was her eightieth birthday.
By Imola Tóth5 days ago in Fiction
Comments (10)
Love this! Your powerful imagery of what it means to be emotionally exhausted (which can seep into the body, causing physical exhaustion) is profound. Made me think of the 10 of Wands in tarot, where someone has had all they can take, but they’re still not giving up on themselves—they’re just giving up on carrying emotional baggage.
This is so, so compelling, Melissa! Beautiful done. "I never gave up when my body was thrown through the house of your torment". Inspirational on so many levels ❤️
Whoaaa, this was so intense and poignant! I'm always amazed by how you write such powerful poems!
"Dreaming of the muddy mess of the mighty Mississippi gleaming off its shadowy mysteries that steep low and wide, Exhausted by the hard truths it has had to carry." This a pretty damn awesome use of alliteration and metaphor! Mysteries steeping in the muddy Mississippi...
Expertly crafted, well written & inspiring!
"Yes, Cosette, forbid me now to die. I'll obey. I will try." This reminds me of the epilogue to Les Mis, Jean Valjean's dying words.
Spectacular & left exhausted!!!❤️❤️💕
Beautifully written
Strong words. When we get exhausted, our mind and body is telling us something. Well done 💓
-Deep but still magnificently written 📝❤️👍😉