Tsunami

Yasmin Odeh

 

A wave is all else in all ways. 

In and out, back and forth, 

and noisy, 

much like a brain 

I possess; 

it is fatally bruising. 

Rushes of torment 

continuing to flood my conscious 

cells 

and then my body, 

so severe—enough to reach the surface 

of me. 

I browse around in confusion, 

seeking restitution. 

Where is my recompense? Am I not meriting 

of it? 

I feel shortcoming, my brain 

malfunctioning. 

Wretchedness. 

A critically damaged piece 

of this world, 

I am. 

The despair worsens. 

I am in a quandary. 

How can I extricate 

myself 

from misery? 

An intention was distant, 

but it is approaching, 

like a wave, 

a distinguished form: 

swifter and towering. It is dominant, 

and it appears 

to be exceedingly promising. 

One departure shall be 

glossed over, as many are. 

This destination is favored 

and has been reached countless times. 

After all, what is near? 

I feel an immensely powerful 

tug 

on my physicality, 

as if I am being hauled 

out 

of my own self. 

I am floating—levitating 

in nothingness. 

I entered outside inside, 

into darkness, within an abyss. 

The solution’s efficacy? 

I need not know nor care. 

A colossal adjustment 

is to fathom and a transition 

of authentic substance. 

Soreness. An enormous migraine, 

I feel, like neuralgia. But how? 

My body 

in my peripheral, 

I presumed this to be… 

superior 

to life but have been buried 

further into my despair. 

Tsunamis have become my colleagues 

They are so short but colossal; 

coming and going, 

passing through earth faster 

than my archaic fingers can snap. 

Like waves, 

I float back into the ocean 

and remerge with my origin, 

my source 

of agony. 

I was in and out, 

pulled back and pushed forward. 

Now, it is silent.