A Touch Of The Nerves Poem by Mark Heathcote

I have a touch of the nerves
It comes in waves like a tsunami
But at its core is a deathly silence
Sadly, all the songbirds
Have flown calamitously away
Each is carrying a piece of lintel cloth
And I am left naked, holding a single white feather
I long to let it go, but it's attached somehow,
Somewhere at some point of place, in my heart and soul
Lord knows I am not whole, but if I let it go
I am less than a whole. I am directionless
I am a black hole. I am in unimaginable chaos
I am a thread unravelling
No knot on earth can hold.
I have had a touch of the nerves today and yesterday
Since my childhood, sadly to say
But if I'm patient somewhere at some point
A songbird somehow will reappear.
A knot will tie off all the loose ends
That won't come together, and just for a moment
And maybe only for a minuscule moment
The world will be singing infinitesimally better.
Better because together you and I choose it to be.