Inside Outside

I have been inside forever;
these mint green walls are me.
Outside sunshine, fresh air awaits;
I long to feel Sol’s infrared,
inhale nature’s scented bouquet.

I have morphed to inside tiger
clawing at the love seat, these
oval throw rugs…it is not me.
Now a new adventure awaits—
a journey of trepidation beyond
the door, beyond the shelter
of my modest Cape Cod home.

I leave behind my prison keep
where armed-guard sentries
enforced the law, kept watch
that I dare not depart
but rather hid like buried
treasure…

…I came to realize the guards
were merely shadows in the night;
for now I step into outside,
my insides swirl like whirlpools,
I see horizons once again
the scent of tar and lavender,
the sun reflecting off the road,
my windows down to feel the breeze
and motorists, and once again the
spike of hie and incidence.

Road crews even hard at work;
they grind the asphalt deep enough
then pave anew as flagmen
direct us through single lanes.

The air-conditioner still works;
I feel a twinge, my lumbar spine.
New aches and pains from
inside out, a consequence
of time inside.


37 Lines
Writer’s Cramp
6-13-20