Atonement
by Joyce Gayles
For the bodies I left hanging,
for the lips I have silenced,
and for spirits I have skinned alive.
For turning that cold shoulder,
that blind eye
as you quietly stepped away.
I lie awake in the nights
stirred by my longing
to backstroke to an earlier time.
A time when it seemed we
were one soul,
united in heart and mind.
Was I so wrong, my grasp
of things not real?
Were you in some other worlds
not populated by us?
Your singular realities have taken hold,
and I am submerged
in the cold, dark waters of separation.
for the lips I have silenced,
and for spirits I have skinned alive.
For turning that cold shoulder,
that blind eye
as you quietly stepped away.
I lie awake in the nights
stirred by my longing
to backstroke to an earlier time.
A time when it seemed we
were one soul,
united in heart and mind.
Was I so wrong, my grasp
of things not real?
Were you in some other worlds
not populated by us?
Your singular realities have taken hold,
and I am submerged
in the cold, dark waters of separation.
Joyce Gayles is a clinical psychologist who has written poetry for private consumption since the 11th grade. She regards her poetry writing as "therapy." This is only her second publication, and she believes it is time to share her volumes of work with others.