The Torn Quilt

Caught in a body fraught in pain
Straightening heartstrings that twist and turn
Time is distant and even further
The mind wandering away

Many suns and moons travel past
Casting looks of indifference
I search futilely for my begging bowl
To stop them just by chance

Watching the remains as someone else’s
I check if I am me
The answer always appears the same
No this cannot be

Where math has failed and logic foiled
I appear to be standing close
When brinks of happiness and rims of misery
Not long ago just froze

I lie still by the open windows
Waiting for the spark
Though all I have seen rushing past
Is nothing but the dark

I sieve for the non-existent needle
In the sky-high hay stack
This torn quilt needs stitches
To cover a burning back

(Picture from Yellow Stone National Park. Orange Mound Geyser: The Weeping Elephant)