Displaced

 December 11, 2023

 

The following poem was written in October 2022 during my son Michael’s homeless period that lasted over one year. Michael, who has a bipolar condition, had succumbed to an extended relapse into drugs and alcohol. The poem depicts a lamentation prayer, an ancient practice comprised of a pouring out of sadness, grief, and loss.  I experienced this soul loss as my adult son’s health and wellbeing dissolved into chronic illness and mental degradation.

 

DISPLACED

                                                 

Entrenched in sadness, 

Compounded feelings constrict her

As she envisions the lost boy.

His pouring out of Soul in wailful deprivations.

 

Lack of harmony,

Devoid of joy,

Loss of balance,

Deprived of safety,

 

Erosion of trust,

Deranged in worry,

Depleted of hope,

Exiled into invisibility.

 

 

She seeks the alone one,

Tangled in delusions,

Forgetting his way,

Paralyzed with fear,

 

 

Marching willfully into danger,

Sinking into the fog of despair.

Mentally impaired,

Deranged and abandoned.

 

Can no one save this lost son

Restore the wanderer,

Connect him to the life force,

Who seeks freedom in misguided pathways?