purification

i'm drowning in a desert
and nothing's making sense
my world is turned upon me
as i reach up my hand
above the waves of golden grain
that rain on me like fire
crashing down in waves that scourge
and bruise me without tire
my lungs are drenched with desert sand
as the dunes grow ever higher
upon my shoulders they build for me
a murky, hidden pyre.

it's caught me in a whirlpool
of unprecedented heat
the anger that's within
comes from my burning, my defeat
it brews around as hurricanes
that will themselves to grow
and boil and froth more misery
as on their path they go
through oceans of insanity
and seas of salty doubt
that seep into my every wound
searing and stinging throughout.

i know not why i'm in the ocean
nor why i'm in a drought
nor why i seem to be forgotten
when i'm crying out so loud
i am drowning in a desert
and burning in the water
i cannot grasp, can't understand
this paradox, this hour,
but if i'm here i ask of You
to purify me now
to cleanse me of my bitter sins
and make of me a tower
wrought of that which is sublime
of joy from sadness grown
of misery to loveliness
of beauty turned from woe.

-D.B.
3/9/2014

this is what it's like to break

you feel the rain hit your heart,
nothing happens.
trying to slice through rock
but it's only sweet water.
so the rain pounds faster,
still no luck.
a nagging feeling is all it leaves,
discomfort at worst.
so the rain makes way to hail
still nothing.
though the hail does not break,
neither does the rock.
so hail gives way to lightning.
there's a chance.
it does not hit the rock.
the rock remains uncracked,
the elements seem destined for defeat.

until you look at the big picture.

look at the rain.
it pools around the rock,
nearly drowning it.
look at the hail.
some melts and deepens the pool
some lingers,
lasting reminders of despair.
look at the lightning,
it misses the rock
but why?
its target was water
and with the elements combined
you see the rock give in,
a cold and hardened mess of me
drowning
in a pool of
pain
electrocuted
by pure
betrayal.


-D.B.
9/28/2012