Play The Guitar... Poem by Natalia Bakina

My every lonely conscious hour
Is dragging me into you night,
Impassioned by exalted powers
Of your wistfully fanciful mind.

Reality has dwindled to a trickle.
I’m captured by its timeless spin.
Adrenaline is sending prickles
Pumping frantically under the skin.

Don’t stop – I am frozen stiff,
My agony’s turned a black glaze.
Just play – I am breathing your riff,
My body is bursting ablaze.

Look at my self-imposed crown –
Its edges have pierced my head;
The blood is oozing down -
Curving marks on sticky sweat...

Dead is everything that adorns
This pain-dripping spiky wreath -
The birds impaled on its thorns
Are my dreams on the pointed teeth.

Their lost feathers - whimsical lace -
Are fluttering slowly like snow -
The remnants of some mortal grace,
The signs of some merciless glow.

The branches, already dried-out,
Entangling the strands of my hair
Are my vices stretching around
In rigid loops of despair.

The flowers, smeared and faded,
Like skull-like knots on the ropes,
Are the thoughts totally invaded
By my rotten-through sinful hopes.

I can’t burn, but I still can smoulder...
Please remove this bladed crown,
Give me your unrepentant shoulder,
And unstrap my torturing gown.

The coil of venomous snakes
Wetly gleaming on my attire
Makes a collar – my wriggling aches,
Poisonous whims and toxic desires.

My words are so helplessly pale,
They are heard as if from afar...
Please destroy this intricate veil,
Strike your notes – just play the guitar...

(2011)