A Hundred Years of Tears

The things I've done,

The hurts I've borne, 

Those I've suffered for so long,

The folks I've wronged,

The wounds I've caused,

The people my actions have alarmed,

And the ones inadvertently brought to harm,

Inside my mind they swirl, they swarm

Like angry clouds in a violent storm.

A tempest that I try to quell

So I can reach a state of peace in which to dwell

But then, I find I might as well

Set up camp in a lions den

Or build a skyscraper atop a fen.

I'm always teetering on the edge

Of a full-blown maelstrom of emotions I dread.

Pent-up tears, like a river that swells

With each day that passes and with every breath,

Are ever present but always at arm's length.

I need release from what I feel 

I hear hounds of consequence nipping at my heels.

A ticking timebomb is what I am;

I can see the cracking in the dam.

I stand ankle deep in squelching mud.

I fear the coming of the flood.

When the walls I built finally come away

And that...

Well that could happen any day.