Unvarnished Words 2012-13

Divorce

by Cheryl Ratliff Worn and tattered became my breast, And all the things in me you loved best, Then gone, gone, gone Vanished like a desert oasis, My mirage man, You were gone.

My heart— A broken vessel— Spilled an ocean of anguish And our dreams drowned Waiting for the life raft That would never come.

But my soul Grew fins and gillsI learned to breathe again And dove deep Looking for Atlantis.

But what I found Was not some fabled, golden city, no fairytale happy ending, No brave prince To save me From my loneliness.

I found instead An inner light That shone through the darkness Of that great abyss That was my chest.

I am a bioluminescent being.

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