Terra incognita

I could never name the wall
that burgeoned before me
though I knew it intimately
blindly fingering the roughened surface
unable to penetrate its fissures

I could never see it
hurtling towards me until
I found myself splattered across
its blanched and merciless stones
before crumpling to the floor

I named myself stupid
and careless and undeserving
for daring to breathe happiness in
a sheer moment of abandonment so loud
that catastrophe was inevitable

but I could never name
the blank space ahead of me
or guess where or when it would loom
beyond a random instant of delight
that left me betraying my dreams

© 2005 Melissa Songer