Untied

Second half of what I never knew was a first half.

A soul set free from constant friction.
Words spoken aloud in crystal clear diction - I will be free!
I will hear no more of your crude complaints,
Nor allow any further roughed-up restraints.
Do not throw out accusations of infi-daliances

A soul and will set free to dance,
Finding joy in a moment of pure happenstance.
Finger tells of a memory of a now useless token,
A fare-thee-well symbol of all that was broken,
She could not quit it soon enough.

If freedom was paid with a heart thrown to floor
Then it is a bargain well made, for it’s needed no more.
Its beat has long ceased its staccato-like beating,
From breaks of accusation - so much time spent not-cheating.
Stepping over it on the way out the door.

For one single moment, the world is silent and stalls,
As she steps out from a prison of crudely hewn walls.
She hears from behind her his pitiful calls.
Upon deaf ears plaintive crying now falls.
Immune to the voice once beloved and familiar

She no longer cares to listen anyway.
She's gone to away, moves ever further astray.

To where?  She knows not, nor would she say.
Not that we should ever be told anyway.
She has found the pathway to freedom.

Weaving a zig-zaged path of uncertain direction,
Aware of only the need for hurried defection.
An urgent need to leave and seek a new resurrection.
Thinking not of what was left by her own insurrection.
It was nothing she needed anymore anyway.

A journey which brings new things to see on the way.
Today is brand new, yet familiar in a way.
Lost to a love taken hostage from just yesterday,
And other things that while walking she just throws away.
Restitutions, restrictions, institutions, limitations and mind numbing other crap.

A Love requiring requirement, and all consuming commitment ,
With an eventual stop at institutional interNment.  
Things she no longer has a tolerance for.
Tossed into the garbage, to worry her no more.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Thunder clouds overhead.  Alarming, charming, distracting.
She finds herself looking, wanting, smiling reacting.
For they were beautiful, new, disarming, attracting.
Wondering just what it was that would be called for exacting.
She was taken aback by the beauty and promise contained in them.

With a crack lightening bolted, bringing the rolling of thunder.
She found redemptive shelter, yet she refused to get under.
Rain gentle and steady, falling on parched lips needing quenching,
And she smiled with a knowing as she invited the drenching.
She stepped in front of the storm willingly.

A seasonal rain, a temporary tempest invited right in.
Providing something she’d forgotten that resided within.
She danced, and romanced, and tarried there smiling,
And became once more beautiful in the rain so beguiling.
Telling herself it was for just this one moment.

And while she was dancing, she could feel and forget,
What lie behind or before her, her past and her yet.
All the while knowing there would be cost for this pleasure.
Even one such as this, a short lived moment to treasure.
And she found she was willing to pay it.

She threw her caution away, traded it in for sensation.
Long denied by prior occupation and required de-regulation.
The time she had for dallying, she would give for to take.
If only for leaving a simple smile in her wake.
This she would have.

Then rain stopped abruptly.  It simply ceased in its down pouring.
Leaving puddles, and mud, and a mess on the flooring.
And where her heart once beat came again a dull aching pain,
But for the loss of the dancing, not for the loss of the rain.
Rain was common but her joy was fleeting.

The time to pay up was  upon her.  Put the coins in the slot.
Though she was surprised at the cost.  More than she’d first thought.
But she paid it in full - it was a debt that was hers,
While shaking her head at such used for use words.

She had never needed them.  

She could not claim to have been blind in innocence.
She would not claim disbelief nor plead ignorance.
She went in eyes wide open, from the end to when it started.
So she put her coins in the slot, and then she simply departed.

She took up her trail, confusion given way and replaced,
By the smile that was ever ready to take up its place.
For the rain and the rest were past, her future ahead,
And everything behind her - well it was already dead.


Persevere.  Laugh, Smile and for God’s Sake - Dance While you Can!

Author's Note

For the record - I don't write poetry.

Reviews

[quinfinn]

you could have damned sure fooled me! this is phenomenal! you should write all the time. a person could analyze this piece for hours and still come up six ways from Sunday every time. wonderfully written, indeed!

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Thank you so much for these kind words. Means much really :)

[Baby Ricochet]

You do now. Good job. Escaping bad relationships. I got that T shirt.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Can I order one? I have one that says: "I used to be a lifeguard. Then some blue kid got me fired." Nobody gets that!

[Marie]

I got it immediately. I hope you wear that everytime you go to the beach.

[Baby Ricochet]

HA! That's hilarious!

[Marie]

I'm not clear on this' I thought Quinfin wrote it. I know what Shelley Holt-Lowrey writes and I read everything each of them writes.

If you want to dance, you have to pay the piper. Or the D.J.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Nope! I wrote it. Sometimes, things just sort of fall right out of my head and wind up on this site. I should pay more attention.... And the piper - that dude has been paid. Overpaid actually, but the bill is filed for next year's taxes.

[Marie]

I got mixed up. I saw Quinfin's name right above yours.

[Shelley Holt-Lowrey]

Ahhhh... Now I have to go read Quinfin. You know that when you read and review something I usually have to go read it myself. Off to find Quinfin.

[Marie]

Quinfin posts like there's no tomorrow. And for him there isn't. He only gets the Internet a few hours on Tuesday.