Nomi Shira

Sometimes my mind cares to create a crystal image, alight with a sparkle,

where one resides in a light filled world, a field of the greenest grass underneath my feet,

where I could let myself relax, run free among the daises –

    yellow dots of sunshine scattered across the meadow.

Sometimes I have an image in my mind – yet slightly stronger than an image; it is a desire – a forlorn dream, bitter, cynical lost wishing of what life could have been –

a small happy child, care – free, symbolizing her state –

mama and papa await, arms open, at the end of the field –

    waiting at the end to embrace me,

Sometimes I have an image in my mind

    Sometimes I wonder

    The image turns less cynical as the desire gets stronger –

    The desire for emotions,

    for normalcy,

    Sometimes I wonder what it would be like

    to live free.

but I lie on a stone gray floor in a cold black cage

barred – with thin black bars – barred in flame to the outside world,

    outside and ahead of me a dank room alit with black, shrouded in gray, a sloping wall on

    on the left side with a dark shadow on the right,

my pain the cage itself,

and my eyes, the hollow reflection of the freedom outside.