The Great Purge Poem by Irene Pang

And so I ran out of my room,
Out of my dorm,
Into the rain,
Barefoot.

Panting, gasping for air,
I ran on, and on, and on,
In the rain.

Tears dripped down my cheeks,
Down my neck, my chest, my stomach,
As I ran on, towards Lake Waban,
Leaving Lake House and Wellesley behind.

“Run Faster! Faster! Faster! ”
My inner voice whispered to me.
I was sprinting for my life,
As if I was competing in Boston Marathon,
Except that I had no companions with me,
But was alone, by myself,
In the depth of the woods around Lake Waban.

The sun had resided in its private chamber to sleep,
But the rain was as alive and awake as ever.
With such vicious and violent intensity,
The rain pounded on me, and the earth below me.
I was in pain. But I ran on,
While tears continued to drip down my cheeks,
Nonstop.

I cried, as if I was a newborn,
Confused and disoriented.
“Who am I? ”
“What had happened to me? ”
The once carefree me had disappeared,
Leaving the “other” me in control of… “me.”

As my tears dripped down my cheeks,
They blended in with the raindrops from above,
And cascaded down my physique.
I was soaked, from head to toe,
But I ran on, in the rain,
Around the lake.

I cried my heart out.
I screamed ‘till I became deaf.
And ran on ‘till the blisters on my feet had bursted.
Then, I stepped on a piece of broken glass,
And paused for a minute,
For once.
I watched as blood oozed out of my wound,
And smiled in awe.
The pain of my cut was nothing,
Compared to the pain of my broken heart.

I kneeled down and waited for the blood to dry up.
Then, I looked up to the sky and opened my mouth.
I was thirsty. Mad thirsty.
Raindrops trickled down my throat,
Down to my stomach.
“No taste, ” I thought to myself,
“how boring…”

At this point, I had stopped crying.
I was completely wasted.
Yes, I was experiencing a “hangover, ”
From crying nonstop for an hour.

It had stopped raining, too.
I smiled to myself as I looked up,
Say goodbye to the ugly grey of the sky,
Say hello to its enchanting blue.
I got up. And slowly walked back to my dorm.

This was perfect.
I had needed this for awhile.
Catharsis. The Great Purge.