Traveling So Far

This jagged scar;
the ridge of this lesson
prospers with parallel
tracks, brindle and dull
from disuse.

Almost forgotten letters
are traced on the inside of my lids.
When I least expect to find their raised edges
and the deafening meaning
that comes
from touching these wounds,
I encounter the cold resistance
to losing everything.

I am stumbling toward the darkness of prison--
the metal of bars pressed heavy
on my chest, my heart fearful.

As if the unbearable dream was over,
I declare I will not go back there
now that I have stopped
the bleeding
and I have remembered
the distance
of traveling
so very far
toward freedom.