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This scent is all around you
It follows everywhere
You’re trying to escape it
But it carries in the air

It’s in the upstairs bedroom
It’s even in the hall
You’ll awake to find it lingers
Like some unwanted pall

You don’t know how to stop it
Because you’re only weak
It has no form nor body
But does not cease to speak

You can’t go on much longer
Before you’ll lose your mind
The ones you cherish dearly
Can no longer see how blind

The essence which has cost you
Your sanity and grace
Has taken all you’ve worked for
And thrown it in your face

You’re drowning in your sorrows
You’re dying on your feet
You’re losing every vestige
That made your life complete

The walls know of your anguish
They’re hearing every prayer
They hear your heart pound loudly
They’re the only ones that care

You’re eaten up with teardrops
Which fall so far within
Your body shakes with sobbing
But you can’t take Berlin

You’re a simple soul who longs for
The peace that used to be
You’ve been smashed against the doorway
From wherein you once were free

You’re engaged in mortal combat
With a foe who doesn’t know
Of the pain that’s been inflicted
On a soul that’s been laid low

And how do you respond to
A scent which has no form
How do you react to
Being someone’s pawn

There’s three in your equation
They don’t add up to two
There’s one who’s dead or dying
We realise it’s you

You’re crawling on your heartstrings
You’re trying to be brave
You’re swimming in oblivion
Swamped by wave on wave

The depths that you’ve encountered
Are known by just a few
You’re not looking for some pity
But empathy is true

Is there anyone outside here
Who feels the pain you feel
You know you’re not alone there
But that’s the way you feel

You’re begging for some comfort
From one who’s been this road
You need to know it’s normal
To bear this heavy load

Have any of us seen it
This place you’re passing through
It’s a very lonely passage
That you are going through

You know that many have been
Along this road before
But you’re overwhelmed and sorry
That your broken heart is torn

Did we ever get as angry
As the way you’re feeling now
Did we want to rise and turn on
The enemy and how

Did we manage to defeat it
You’ll take all we can give
You’re after ammunition
To enable you to live

You’re fingertips know nothing
Of hanging anymore
You’ve fallen from the summit
You’re spread across the floor

Your heart is laid before us
We can see it for ourselves
Pick it up and place it
In a jar upon a shelf

Your humanity is shredded
And your confidence is gone
Any bits of you around us
Don’t add up to being one

You’re not half of what you once were
You register as nil
The shell which held your spirit
Received a bitter pill

One day you had a future
One day you had a life
One day is all it took you
To smell the scent that’s rife

Which has gassed all of the reason
And left their brains devoid
Of all that went before now
Which many have enjoyed

The brainwashed have no purpose
But to follow where their bid
No one can get through to them
Their sight stops at their lids

The reason why you suffer
You cannot understand
You’ve tried to learn their language
You’ve walked across their land

They hear thoughts inside them
You hear none at all
You’re lying, lost and useless
You’re a brick in any wall

The furniture we live with
Has a function to be used
But your heart’s been extracted
And wilfully abused

Relationships are easy
Relationships are hard
Relationships mean nothing
When one of them is charred

By the fire and heat and searing
Of some meat upon a spit
Or broiled and boiled and roasted
And drained of any wit

Which kept your spirit living
And got you through your day
Thrown to the dogs of fire
You’re truly man of clay

My God, why should you suffer
Is it to run the course
Are you being worked and tempered
By some blacksmith with such force

That you’re broken whole and flattened
While He sits keeping watch
Weighing your responses
To this cruel and painful touch

As the heart that you had given
So readily before
Must mend itself without help
And survive each day once more

But you need a lover’s presence
To complete your earthly role
You’re a rose that has no flower
You’ve a thorn inside your soul

The morning dew which soothes you
When the nightmares have all gone
Will find you crying acid
It’s the fluid you’ve become

You’ve never known such anguish
You’ve never seen such fear
You stoop before your mirror
Who’s that wraith that you see there

I had mentioned to John that the original poem was almost too much for a reader's heart to bear. I mentioned that it had paralyzed my tongue, (well almost). My personal view is that the modicum of distance the 'second person' form evokes makes the poem able to be experienced, (losing none of its raw, savage grace or compelling beauty,) but permitting the reader to read, without being totally overcome by the tragedy of reality, or the reality of tragedy, as I was. But maybe that's just me.

Again, thank you for your generosity John (aka Byron)

Warmest regards,
Barbara

You are sensitive!!!

Possibly.

Or I just like bending other people to my will.

Warmest regards,
Barbara

Barbara, who is this Will you mention? Your Will, as you describe him! Have you been hiding this relationship from us for years or is it one of those platonic things? Brazen hussy. We are all deeply shocked, mortified, and what's more, jealous. There, now I've said it!

"Wild thing...you make my heart sing...you make everything
Groovy
I said wild thing...
Wild thing, I think I love you"

from afar and with Margaret's permission, of course.

Warmest regards,
Barbara