The Box, by Tony Daly

Modules of Madness I (No 7 in Images from a Locked Ward), by Michael Mazur (USA), 1965.

The Box

Thick, violent lines, scratching out the darkness
Anger, loneliness, sadness, locked inside 
Assaulted by the images hiding in the darkness
given life by imagination, mutated/interpreted from outside

I see You there, not the You I want to remember, but
the You that attacks me when I close my eyes,
the You that defined Rending and Gnashing in your final days
Not the You that taught me about life, fairness, and not judging by sight
Not the You that shaped me with kindness, patience, and love,
but the You that was decimated by cancer - locked You inside your own head,
called the medication that mutated the world You imagined You saw

It is not the loving life I see, but the goodbye that haunts me.
It’s the regret that locks me inside my own box,
Hastened by sadness, loneliness, and fear of the future and the past,
Mutated by the fear that projects self-judgments into the eyes of others.

Tony Daly

Tony Daly is a DC/Metro Area based creative writer and federal writer/editor.  He has an MA in Creative Writing from SUNY College at Brockport and a BA in English from the University at Buffalo.  He has had a few short stories and poems published in collections in the US and the UK.  Most recently he had a poem published in the Rat's Ass Review.