5. Seeking Solace
Last night
I cried
Like a child:
Silent sobs
That made me tremble.
I tossed
And turned,
And took deep breaths
To calm me down,
But still I screamed out
Quietly
So as not to wake anyone.
That’s why
Nobody came
To comfort me
And stroke the hair
Beside my ear
Until I fell asleep.
I slept anyway
And the sun rose in the morning
As it always does.
6 February 1991
Comments: I promise not to do this often (indeed, I hope this will be the only one), but this one is a cheat. I actually wrote it back in 1991, but it fitted the theme so well, and it’s a poem I like. I wrote quite a few poems in the 1980s and early 1990s, but the frequency of my output has declined since then, which is partly why the 100 poems challenge appealed to me because I had enjoyed writing those early pieces. This poem makes reference to my experiences with nightmares when I was little, when my Mum used to come into my room and stroke my head until I settled. There’s a sense in which it’s a counterpoint to “Dark”.
Themes to come: 6. Break Away; 7. Heaven; 8. Innocence; 9. Drive; 10. Breathe Again
Explanation about the 100 poems challenge here.
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