The Dreadful Unknown
When I was five years old, no one listened to me;
Nor heard my silent screams;
No one was there to tell my blistering story; Not even me;
Grandma nor Grandpa, neither Mom had tried;
They were far too busy to notice, the Blazing Red Sky;
Between the Blistering Pains keeping me alive;
And Knowing the Hurt that bound my soul
To the Fears of the Dreadful Unknown;
So, walls did I build so high and proud.
Behind lots of restless noise and many a fake laughter;
No one was to know my Blustery True Story;
A Story, far beyond the control of a scared little boy;
So the solution was simple indeed:
Off to live with a “stranger” and his wife;
With Laddy, Toro and Baron to set the stage;
At first, some happiness did come quietly in;
Calming some of the fears of a scared little boy;
But the Tide did shift the following year;
Grandma Dotty was gone; as was the little blue cottage;
With a thigh high turquoise picket fence.
Unrelenting Fears and Pains crept, silently in;
So once again, not being Heard;
“Mom” nor “stranger” Dad had even attempted a try;
Dad was off to war and fight in Viet Nam;
They, too, were too busy to notice the brewing, Blazing Red Sky;
From Viet Name to Europe;
Discovering His happiness;
He was never to be home; telling me I didn’t matter;
Between the Blistering Pains letting me know I was alive;
And Knowing the Hurt that bound my soul
To the Fears of the Dreadful Unknown;
I was chained to a trailer of enormous white lies and darkened deceits looming;
Larger than life;
But in truth it was all I had, and it was All Mine;
I had finally learned My Place;
The Pain In My Heart, is not meant to be seen;
With Uneasy, Laughter, and Negative Attention being born;
Ice Walls I built, to hide the Endured Horrors;
Pain had permanently engulfed; my little Boy;
The Impossible Ask never to be Spoken;
“Please hold and Love Me”;
Fears of the Dreadful Unknown;
About this poem
The poem is about growing up in a split and broken family: in Fallon NV 60 miles outside Reno. Also the chosen life of a US Navyman during wartime when absentee fathers were the norm. When I was 5 years old my older sister and I went to live with my father and my 2 brothers and younger sister moved to New York with my mother. Since I didn't know my father he was a stranger to me and I didnt know my step-mother either (the Dreadful Unknown),
Written on February 14, 2024
Submitted by jamesrpendleton on February 14, 2024
- 1:58 min read
- 129 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | axaxbcDExfag xhxigxxxi xbxbxxf cDExhxxx xxgxae |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,906 |
Words | 395 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 9, 7, 8, 6 |
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"The Dreadful Unknown" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/180988/the-dreadful-unknown>.
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