Through the Void

Through the Void

I watch them 

Passing in the hallways 

Little universes swirling all around me 

Shining bright and happy, 

Full of expectation and purpose. 

I see their shoes, clean and neat, 

Their hair cut in the latest styles 

And wonder what their lives must be like

 As they go about their day

 As I stand in the void 

Created in a time when 

Hearts were cauterized 

Foundations were shaken 

And tears gouged valleys through my soul. 

I watched them 

Then saw them, 

Indifference forged by calendars 

Sweeping them to the next event 

The next rush 

The next high that would still prove 

Empty and void of reason 

Endlessly updating a status that might 

One day reflect 

A human. 

How could they understand? 

How could they know? 

They could not see beyond this 

Oversized chest 

Matronly and awkward 

Thighs thick with the weight 

Of a thousand books read. 

They can't see the mountains and volcanoes 

Or the ruins in the evening light, 

Or the lovers turned to husbands 

(Failures and triumphs can look alike 

To the inexperienced heart.) 

And yet I wonder 

As their eyes shift uncomfortably away 

Why they cannot see the beauty 

Of a woman whose heart is bigger than her clothes? 

She ate to fill the void 

Wept to quell the pressure 

Slept to pass the time 

Waiting for when life would 

Feel like living once again. 

But here I am! 

Sentient and free 

Released from the void that 

Threatened to engulf 

My children's potential 

By rite of a weeping angel.

 Now I am a swirling universe 

Racing from room to room 

Revelation to revelation 

Hurdling through the void 

To places yet unknown. 

And though I carry 

The weight of the previous state, 

As oxygen gains hydrogen 

To become water, 

I am more than just the sum of my parts. 

Rich and powerful, I am 

Sated in a presence 

That says Go! Learn! Live!

© 2021 Eileen Celeste Burnett

UHCL's First Flight, Issue 1 here

Framed artwork on site at the UHCL Writing Center, SSCB 2.101