Exit Visa Poem by Frank Witte

Staring stains as I coalesce my hands,
Escorted down the endless hallway,
Bewildered eyes flash left, flash right.
I am guided deeper into a night.
where heart and mind resume their fray
glaring pain is the solace it spends.

A shred of paper, empowered signature,
A trace of vapor, disembodied ligature,
hand on a stapler, heart to disfigure,
Once I was abler, a soul's slow disrupture.

Just one word and I would have lived,
A heartbeat heard and I could have cried,
No heart needs hurt, or should have died,
Was I just useful, but not a heavenly gift?

Transported down endless dismay,
Bewildered lies cash theft, stash fright.
Bearing onto my coalesced glands,
I am confided deeper into a fight.
Let hard and kind regain their shade
flaring strain is the solace it brands.

Love issues no visa for exit,
A single entry is al you get.
And when you, burned,
to its borders returned,
show proof you're heart's dead
you're free to go for no one can fix it.

And the death sentence,
always the same it ends,
spoken without repentence
'I thought we'ld just be friends'