Artful Alternatives
Past Lives - A Poem

I cannot run fast enough
I can feel my feet thundering on the hard earth
My legs are moving, so fast, so fast
Beads of sweat peel down my face
I feel fear, deep fear as I die.
He is lying in a cross shape,
They celebrate around him,
Candles are lit in a circle around him
Why do they want him gone?
Why has this happened?
He succumbs to the inevitable.
Too many times I am bound like this.
Out in the open.
Wrapped like this. Tight rope,
Around my torso and my arms to my sides.
I am dragged and suffocated, while still standing.
Who am I? Why am I captured in this way?
This time it is chains.
What did I do?
There is a tightness, a throbbing in my head,
Matching and meeting the pressure in my chest.
I try to escape but there is only death.
I feel pain on the whole of my right side
Pain on my face, and my stomach
I feel deep sadness,
Like she wished she'd helped herself, before this end.
My daughter was my sunshine,
A braver girl than me.
My son, a braver boy than me.
He brought me back to life, but I died with her anyway.
Who was she? Why did I know her death?
I believe but
there is just too much noise
To keep hearing.
To keep listening for these old stories.