The Sprout

Poem: I Cannot Breathe

Posted by Tansi from Cardiff - Published on 11/04/2011 at 23:10
4 comments » - Tagged as Creative Writing

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Turning onto a dark and damp road.
Where is the end? I cannot find it.
I’m getting lost, I cannot find my way out.
I need help but where? Where can I find it?
I’m shouting, screaming but no one can seem to hear it.
The road is getting longer.
The walls are closing in.
I cannot breathe.

The floor is slick.
I cannot find my footing.
I’m running now. To where I still don’t know.
Anywhere I need to get anywhere – as long as it’s away from here.
But where is here exactly?
Why am I so scared?
How can I find the exit when I keep on tripping?
I cannot breathe.

I’m in this long tunnel with no escape.
I cannot tell the time anymore.
The place is still unknown.
I’ve been running for ages now.
It feels like days - so I stop.
The walls have stopped closing in,
But I still cannot find the exit.
I cannot breathe.

There is this fog.
Clouding my vision - making me unable to see.
There’s this light at the end.
It was a tunnel after all.
But it’s faint.
Growing smaller and smaller.
I’m running again, faster this time.
Hurrying, trying to reach the light.
I cannot breathe.

My lungs are burning.
I cannot go no further.
I want to give up and cave in.
But I know I cannot.
I have to keep going.
I have to find my way out. Find my way to freedom.
I cannot breathe.

I fall, - harder than before.
I cannot move, cannot see, and cannot hear.
The light is near, but I cannot reach it.
My eyes are blurred – I think I see a figure.
Running at me.
The figure reaches me.
My eyes close – I’m blind to see nothing.
I can finally breathe.

IMAGE: Rhett Maxwell