Scream (Poetry)

Believed extinct — what remains of love
a blackened crater
where once sorrow sizzled — spat
gouts at random
the fire at last gone out
the stubborn smoulder ceased.

Emotion’s barren mountainside composed —
self-contained in its own season —
no telltale puff of smoke
no shudder to unsettle careful ground.

Yet deep — too deep to register
with anything other than a sigh
the heat is building up
inside a pulse pounds faster
and the pain suppressed so long
begins to rise
threatens to burst out through tight-drawn lips
release a lava lake of hurt —
explode and let all sense erupt
in one throat-searing scream...

Instead, I save it — hold it down
pack the tortured thought in ice
the balance kept for now
but teetering, the meltdown close
and no one noticing of late
how quiet I have become.