Trapped

Lost in the dark, tangled in silken threads.

Alone in the moonbeams, trembling in piercing cold.

Collapsed in the wreckage, sorting through shattered dreams.

Broken in my mind, looping in turgid casuistry

Mocked by the presence, so temptingly near, of a carrot on a string.

Though crushed with pain and exquisite despair,

through the agony I begin, unwinding the cords

though it leaves me bare, refusing to give in.

A carrot I see only now, too late, is rotting on its string.

I tear my own flesh along with the bands, bloodied I rise to my feet.

I scream my defiance, my hollowed out joy, to the nightmare I've been in.

The carrot falls, and I cannot bear, the memories it brings.

Slowly I turn, and walk in the dark, needing someone to share my pain.