Burning Blood

 the burning blood

that rages

            through veins which weep their sanguine tears

            upon a fire

that only heats

foretell that days of blazing darkness

                        creep

            if I remain in perilous defeat.

and surely elsewhere,

            somewhere, there is peace that wafts

                        on breezes

like cherry petals do,

 

            a land where rays

dance on waves to please, and snows

                        in shower

            make the damn’d look pure.

 

but,

is it best to fly

            at first setback, to flee

                        when hurt tells you

it’d be best?

 

(after all)

it ain’t so easy knocking

            trains off track because their target

            pulls through cruel tests.

 

so,

            though the pain

            of waiting here has sway, like coals

                        urge feet

to run,

I think I’ll stay.

***

(Cuenca, Ecuador -- May, 2020)

I made some writing prompts around this time to help with writer's block and to make sure I was writing every night. Basically, I filled one Zip-lock bag with slips of paper with images/themes written on them. Then, I had a second bag with styles/tones on them. For this poem, I had to write a sonnet about blood. However, to make it interesting, I tried to break up the lines in an unconventional way to hide the fact it's a sonnet while maintaining the sonic qualities. Some of the lines are just a bit awkward, though.