ChendaWrites: Restless

Restless


The sky feels smoky today. Leaves fall 

in shades of gray; these twenty-six shades 

of charcoal, and the winter wind is cold, and I

feel restless. My arms feel like fingers feeling

like starfish clinging to exhume essence. Of earth,

of wind, and of fire. These electrons firing in my

brain, in underwater caverns, making patterns,

giving grace as I pray, for this, my meager body;

frail for all the blood, and the veins, and the skin.

And what, if anything, will tomorrow bring? No

guarantees. No heart but my own. No song sung

but the one I sing alone. Like whistling, like a

hummingbird inside, no one else can hear.



© 2010-2025 Chenda Duong

Note: “'Cause I had a dream I was carried on backs
Of a thousand green birds
And they carried me to a place without words
And there was nothing, but there was everything.”

Rilo Kiley: “Let Me Back In” (2013)