Lazarus

She lived within
my heart's dream,
lost in a haze
of ancient memory

Distant echoes
of past love and loss -
long since forgotten
then remembered again

They never mattered.

Jaded,
I fearfully clung
to familiar patterns
for any semblance
of stability

It never existed.

Blindfolded,
I wandered
barren wastelands
of an empty heart
and restless soul

There was no quarter.

What purpose
does such
self-evisceration
truly serve?

None.

Finally escaping
this emotional prison,
I cast off heavy shackles
of limiting beliefs

A cold light lingers
as my old self-image
disintegrates
into bones and dust

The winds of change,
leaving no trace
of its former existence

Now I am resurrected
as a trembling child
in an unfamiliar place.