I pace my cage like some starving beast

Neglected by a silent telephone, heart

Weak, malnourished by the one person

Who once gave it sustenance but lost to

Me now, the cage I pace built within

That four-chambered room, walls breaking

With each passing minute, hairline fractures

Pumping crimson betrayals that hold these

Bars in place, a sentence imposed by her

Reckless indifference to broken promises

And my own inability to use the key that

Will swing the door open, a key tagged

“Reality”, its location hidden behind a

Photograph I look at often to break the

Silence of this confinement, eyes shifting

Between the image I hold, its wooden frame

Like a window to the past, then back to that

Deadened telephone, hope at war with despair

In a struggle waged from a four-chambered cell

As my vision blurs to match my better judgement.

END

“Caged”