Vertigo

A few calcium crystals inside the ear

Determine your perception of balance in this world.

When shaken out of place,

You see how fast the world is turning,

And vomit from the speed of it.

*

Which side is reality, and which is unreality?

There is no way of knowing.

But those few crystals are the gate between an ordinary life and hell.

I have crossed into that world armed only with the terrifying nightly prayer of my childhood,

If I should die before I wake.

*

Like aftershocks from an earthquake or the detritus after a hurricane,

The world enters vertigo’s imbalance,

Suffering the after effects, symptoms of a deeper issue.

Limping along, one hand on the wall for steadiness,

While vertigo works, cutting the feet out from under the strong,

Obscuring the humanness of others, mocking those who care.

*

After passing through the gates to hell,

A violent, dizzying assault, swirling with wars, greed, neglect of others.

When the barrier is coaxed back into place,

We carry an understanding of the lurking evil,

Until forgotten once again, through lack of experience.

*

The world on the other side of the veil,

The dark world, held back by a few people in the right place at the right time.

Or unleashed onto others by a person out of sync with place and time.

If I should die before I wake

I pray the Lord my soul to take.

*******

This poem is also published on Medium.

Thank you for reading and supporting my writing.

Natalie