Jug of water.
Completely dry.
Bread is old.
One bite.
Crust is cracked.
Old dry bone.
Meat is gone.
Marrow sucked.
There is no light.
There is no sound.
Only the steady thumping of my heart.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
My trembling hands run
Over the cold walls.
It is oh, so cold.
But there is no moisture
To soften my dry lips.
My tongue is a
Swollen bloated balloon of a whale.
My throat is parchment--
Pale, cracked, dusty.
I have no wish for light.
It would blind me.
I have no wish for food.
I cannot hold it down.
I have no wish for friends.
I have nothing to say.
Nothing to share.
All I want is water.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
My eyes roam desperately.
I cannot see.
There is nothing but blackness.
If I fell into a well, it would be heaven.
Pitch black.
Full of water.
My wish is to die
In a stream
Or a pond.
Surrounded by life.
No.
My captors have greater punishments.
They do not drown me.
They do not stab me.
They wait patiently for me to die
Of thirst.
Underwater.
Yes--I am held here in a cell
Underwater.
At the bottom of the ocean.
Enough air to last me for years.
There is a window
Made of unbreakable glass.
I have tried.
It shows the currents. It shows the ripples.
It shows me life.
At the bottom of the ocean here,
the pressure is not enough to
crush me.
It is not that deep.
It is deep enough to take away light.
And so I await my death.
To die of thirst
In a land that knows
Nothing but water
And life.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump...
There will be no escape.