Kaleidoscopic Illusions Poem by Faiza Khan Jadoon

She is a lost soul
wandering in a maze of memories
where everything blurs and fades
out of sight
as soon as she thinks
she has caught a glimpse
of the forever-changing,
revolving,
disappearing -
kaleidoscope of moth-eaten memories.

But their impression remains
burned on her retinas
and she can no more
forget them
than she could gouge her own eyes out.

They are there -
Illusions.
Memories.
Mirages.

Feeding away at her soul,
dragging her deeper
into the ever-changing maze,
spinning a web of disillusionment around her
and tying her up in such fine
threads of sweet oblivion
that she would blissfully
spend her whole life
tangled in them.

For being tangled in them,
no matter how sharp their edges are
and how often they cut into her vulnerable flesh,
is her only fix and refuge.