DOORS
I go through the door,
which closes,
as if it were the end of something.
Directionless,
I move on,
glancing back.
No one is looking.
No one cares
which door I’ve taken.
I ask myself
if any of it matters.
There seems to be no answer.
It’s better not to ask questions.
The answers we get are never
the ones we hoped for.
Another door,
this one is locked,
and I’ve lost the key.
Others may find a better door to go through
and find something new.
THE SEARCH
I keep looking for
the original trauma
which left me
trapped by pain.
There was a beginning.
There will be an end.
My road has many twists and turns.
I keep trying to learn
what keeps me going.
I wish there were
a simple answer
to be found in a dream.
It does not seem
it will happen that way.
ACTING
Feeling twisted,
having been put through the ringer.
Down and out,
day after day,
trapped in an empty space,
feeling out of place.
Acting does not work.
It is like wearing a mask.
No one is fooled.
It hides nothing.
After pain,
there is more pain.
I feel empty and drained.
There is no escape.
I wish there were,
but wishing changes nothing.
My sense of the tragic
follows me
wherever I go.
© Jens Magnussen: IMG_2886
RAGE
I am full of rage.
Anger is my prison.
Remembering pain
makes life more difficult.
As I lay in bed,
I’m filled with dread,
My life once had meaning.
Now, everything seems
empty to me.
I remember all those who have
caused me pain.
I know rage is a dead end.
It leads only to more pain.
SECOND CHANCE
There are some things
we only get one chance
to do right.
We can wish
we had another chance
to do it right,
this time.
Unfortunately,
this is not the way
the world works.
We can’t do it again
when we figure out
there was an alternative
we missed.
We don’t get a second chance
to see
what we might have done
when our vision was trapped in a cloud.