Just When You Thought You Dispatched It

PTSD

"You broke it, you fix it." he said,

but you can't fix what you can't see.

Some things are invisible 

to the naked eye, but

if I peer just so, over the edge,

I see my great well of sadness

staring back at me, and it hits me

like a slap from a friend

an unexpected kick

right to the middle of the chest

where rejection hides its

painful aching face 

memories deposited there

of all those times

love was lost, not returned

it's a formidable beast

who creep crawls, belly to the floor

claws tapping out a warning

as it slithers closer, "Don't look,

don't look, don't look down there..."

just a hair trigger away

from the slipping head-first

into the chasm of its

yawning mouth, gnashing teeth

swallow me whole, like a twig

so easily snapped in two