A Haibun
A Time to Learn
Sometimes when we wait too long, too much damage has been done to turn back.
Judgement reigns though undeserved. It is as death and just as constant. Tears go unseen on the opposite end of the line. Just something else for criticism. Mute button is pushed in so sobs are silenced there. With guilt, the blame is unwarranted yet taken as always. What is normally a natural instinct remains a mystery to some. An unacceptable strain, it is perceived to be too big a demand, their own wants paramount, mandatory. Their desire for complete power unassailed yet indefensible.
still with eyes focused three jays on a bare branch sit boring into me
Blameless, yet blamed, taught from youth. Discovering there are others brings astonishment, understanding. A complex, the weakness lies elsewhere. New patterns forward can be be traced with gentled finger. Letting go of what can’t be changed, moving forward even if alone. This is others’ burden though transferred artificially through acceptance. One who is so easily discarded will tear the binding cord to continue ever away. A lesson learned too late only within the mind does victory lie. Loss surrounds them but the very concept of loss or lack is incomprehensible to them. They know not from which direction it comes.
words pushed back out past birds gone now naught but relic heart freed steps lightened
Natalie Frank, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychology) 2019
Natalie Frank (Taye Carrol) has had work featured in Haunted Waters Press, Weirdbook Magazine, Siren’s Call Publications, Lycan Valley Press and Zero Fiction among others. Her poetry has been featured in several anthologies.
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