I can't speak

I want to write, but somehow I can’t.
I see the images in my minds eye.
I know the story, but the words are gone.

Why?

Can you understand the urgency behind my desire to write?
Do you know how important it is for me to tell?

I want to write of my pain and of the emptiness inside.
I want to tell you of a loss that is still fresh.
I want to cry, but can’t.
My voice is gone,
Gone.

Nothing left but the heaviness,
The pain-numbing music,
And a bird trapped inside a gilt-cage,
Wings a-flutter, bashing its head against the bars.

You see my tears, but don’t understand.
How can you?
I can’t speak.

First published in TakingITGlobal's Panorama Zine on 21st April, 2008.