Refraction

I am not brave
My eye is not so bright as to illume all my heart would encompass
Star song now discordant in the uplift of my voice
And I am broken

These shards dance, reflecting the stories we tell ourselves
To lull us back to sleep, clinging
Safe, we say, back to flame, holding cindered the hands of our children
Heavy lidded, somnolence suffusing limbs weighted by despair labeled
Truth, thrashing churns new soil
and we still

Sightless, bereft, the gentle feels obscene
Armored by chains we cherish, swallowing the keys as nourishment
Do not turn your backs, we cry
Spectres choking out these silenced hungers
A repast untasted
Wallowing in salt and ash
Unwilling to the end to trust that which sustains us