not quite flinching

as pain like needles tear open the heart

while the boisterous cacophony of false laughter

condemns the gentlest feelings to rupture and rip apart

 

the fake tones of convivial conversation pieces

seem to light a fuse that eventually implodes

deep within the crushed mind as it struggles to maintain sanity

while the cackle of the babble shreds sanity’s grip as it rapidly erodes

 

not quite flinching

the deep valleys of drowning emotion seem to breathe new life

into the long lost sentiments drifting in the idle wind

to revive the glimmer of hope, as permanent neither is pain nor strife

 

thus the upward climb commences from the deep pit of despair

clambering and clawing in frantic desperation to finally reach

that realm of peace and of quiet solitude and of a life fresh and bubbling

and to finally break the shackles that bind and walk freely on life’s velvety beach