This dark hole within my chest

I lie within.

I look up

A dot of light

Of hope.

 

Black surrounds me

Above me

Inside of me.

 

I feel chains

All around me

Wrapped around my arms

Legs

Neck

Face.

I cannot breathe.

 

A larger chain protrudes from the center of my chest

Its other end

I do not even know

Only that

My chest burns and aches

An internal suffering.

 

I lie

On my side

Curled up

In a fetal position

With the dot of light

In the corner of my eye.

 

Lost

Is what I feel

Taste

Hear

See.

 

One fateful day

Dark as any other

Tears of my eyes

Turn into paper

Blank slips of paper.

 

My fingertips

Are my pens

Words flow outwards

Like bats from a cave

Awkward like a newborn.

Unsure like a cloud

Poetry.

 

As each slip fills

Like a water jug

It transforms

Into….

A step

One small step.

 

Over time

More tears turn into paper

I fill

And fill

Each piece.

Slowly

Ever so slowly.

 

Upwards

The steps

Build themselves up

Like worker ants

In slow motion.

 

The chains are gone

Except the one

Coming from my chest.

 

I pick up the large chain

In my tiny hands

Its bitter coldness

Stinging my fingers.

 

Chains in arms

I begin

Climbing

Up my own steps

Towards the light I go.

 

After what seems eternity

I stand

Free.

 

I stand

Atop

My Poetry Stairway.