Relinquished

Each soul in a shell has a story to tell

along my way I happened to fall

into a trap I awoke later to find

far north in a space, a place

where the sun does not sow

stories of fruit nor blisters, but instead

ice reveals its contours

not flames create hell

where souls go to learn, why animals howl

deep in without any hold

inching closer to where a whistled wind blew

across the terrain that had given way

I recalled alternate time lines of peril

where a vine had made a home

in my veins to dwell

upon nearing the sense

of something to grasp

voices shouting

over whose land and skin were best

a line running into my mind

contemplated leaving

behind the promise of touching again

crashing waters

to be swallowed by that into which I fell

a movement swelled

and though without any vision or sight

I felt a pulse with great might

emanating from a mysterious fog

a recollected finding

I had been trapped inside

his mind and not in mine

to any imagine a great surprise

when I found my home

upon which I was already standing

pebbled beach and not sand

surrounded by grass enthusiastically waving

lessoned now by a sense of desire

to be anyone’s but mine

I saw a reflection by new eyes

where the tears were joy

and not of pain

as I knew immediately

from where my body had lain.