Calloused

Can you feel it?
Brushing through your hair
The world stares
Are you even aware?

Can you touch it?
Set it aflame
No? Coward.
What’s in a name?

Can you smell it?
Adrift in the midnight air
Putrid
Like yesterday’s prayer

Can you taste him?
I thought so
A sack of bones you’d be
If the bitterness, you dared forego

Can you heal them?
Calloused as my feet
Calloused as the eyes they seek
Calloused as the moon they greet

Can you hear her?
No? Coward
Last night’s moan
Today’s groan

Try harder this time
It is far too much
To bear alone
Yearning to atone

C a n
y o u 
              h e a r
                         h e r?

Photo and effects by Alina de Albergaria
Milan, Italy, 2018
© pennedbyalina 2021