I TRAVELED
by Kai Raine

Heart

An apartment buried in books
A nose buried in pages
Eyes that fill and spill.
Pages smudge.
Face in a pillow,
Muffled screams?
Sobs?
Cries.

Heart caves to too much caffeine,
Pressure in the chest
Desperate for a bed.
Responsibilities abound.
Pushed to the end,
Towards elevation.
Absolution.
Salvation.

A new set of pages are saviors
A new frame of mind
A new thinking place.
And then wavering focus.
On to the unfinished masterpiece,
Unending tatters.
Guilt.
Desire.

Conversation is a battleground
Talking to deaf ears
Listening to mute tongues.
Back to work.
The dancing tongue never says
A word of growing solitude.
Fortitude.
Loneliness.

I am her ally but only in music,
Until she learns to see me
For what I am.
Fingers around her core.
I hold her in my heart,
But I, to her, am lost.
Pain.
Emotion.
Heart.

I Traveled

I traveled, once.
It was a road that curved
And bent and twisted
Straight on forever.

I traveled again
To the end of the world
I thought
But it just kept going.

I traveled then.
I ran like nothing could follow.
It didn’t.
My magic died.

I traveled there
When times were dark
So that the sun could come out
And I could learn.

I traveled here.
I came to escape
Everything I love.
Now I want both.

I travel now.
I bridge time and space
An impossible equilibrium
In an egg
In my palm
Through blurred eyes
In that snowstorm.

About the Author:

Kai Reine

Kai Raine believes in using the power of stories to remind herself to question what she thinks she know. She lives and breathes stories and often finds them just as tangible as reality.  Kai is a graduate of the University of Alaska and the author of the fantasy novel These Lies That Live Between Us.
http://www.kairaine.com/