Prisoner Of Time

Does your past

inhibit the meaning

Does a smile work 

 to cover your pain

Does today lie in wait

for tomorrow

Your messages cleft,

forever the same

Do you write before feelings

have woken

The letters pretty, in cursive

review

When your words leave the pulpit

unspoken

Do you retreat to the very

last pew

Taking refuge, 

as twilight approaches

All windows shuttered,

any truth to mime

Those orphaned moments 

 to hold you captive

And a victim

—the prisoner of time

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)