Fragments of Life

© 2003 Black Tangled Heart

Inspired by photographs taken by my dear friend Samantha, this one's for you, doll.

--

Pencil of kohl in a trained hand to trace

Wavering smudges around eyes

Filled with the shattered stories

Of a glass existence

And forced encounters that lurk

In a past overshadowed by numbness

Sunset a billowing blaze, kissing

The charcoal sky with gold

Like she who was born of Demeter's womb

in salt-lined blood

And swollen song

The cuts are deep; nail lacquer black

Enslavement in the chokers upon a pallid neck

Lank hair after a night imbued with writhing bodies

And illegal substances

Asleep on dirty sidewalks, raw beauty in morning light

A beach adorned in shipwrecked memories

A wreath of azure upon a crest of new beginning

Redemption reflected in stained glass and wrought iron

Crucifix pressed to flesh

A mark burned across an upturned palm

Leather and metal; scarlet smeared

Across eyelids; furtive expression; silent conviction

Blurred light upon darkness deep and wet as ink

Shadows cascading through barbed wire

A world toned in grey

Mouth bitten in apprehension

Jewellery glinting against a pale throat

Solemn gaze; pain tucked away

A spattered orb against a hollow sky

Cynical is the burgundy smile

Bare shoulders; dark curls

Jagged cuts breaking skin in resolution

Waste not your tears

For passion lies within a body broken, a mind

Beautiful

To absorb the wretchedness of life and transition it

To resplendence

--