SUDDEN LIGHT

I slept
in my clothes
again

last night. Those stubborn
buttons were beyond
my dying

fingers. No energy to
unzip my pants, take off
a shoe.

The stark sun
stabs my exhausted eyes
each morning.

Shrill
street sirens startle
my numb mouth open:

A long silent scream,
in a deaf man's
nightmare.

Under the heavy covers
I try to shut out
the world

until I'm somehow able
to rise again. Maybe
Jesus

will come to me
during this suffocating
darkness

and take my soiled hand.
He will pull me out of this
deep black hole

and guide me towards that
sudden light. His sweet
and gentle hands will

bless my blind
eyes open
and make my

body pure. He will wash
away the decay
and deadly fear

with his unearthly love. He
will make the sullen worms
forgive my fallen flesh.

He will throw out the mouldering
shroud. He will sing me
wide awake until

I'm wearing something
white and waltzing in the
sun. He will carry my heavy

burden and stand beside me,
as I laugh and dance on
my own empty grave.

Poem © 2009 by Dylan Mitchell