Temporary Purgatory



Well I'm living in a foreign land
Where the gun shops selling what's low on demand
The people here don't seem to be
I can’t seem to find the key

I don't know where's the door to leave
I'm laying here in this uncomfortable breeze
Living as one that's in the back seat
Something about everything feels so incomplete

It’s a temporary purgatory
Where sight isn't the only thing I see
I’m inventing words to describe this scene
It's another way of living a being
__________________
It's getting hot but I'm starting to freeze
Where milk is being made from cheese
Where war breaks out and life is born
The shirt's been washed but never worn

And the bomb was blocked by debris
And God doesn't sell his water for free
A priest lay crying on his on his floor
cause all that he knew flew out the door

A storm's going on inside his head
The rhythm makes him feel he's dead
The power's out but the light's still on
I know I'm alive but think I'm gone
__________________
Life is just a movie it seems
Where vision is created from dreams
The fires start without a spark
and Noah is vanished from his Arch

The gambler now knows when to quit
Where contradictor isn't a hypocrite
The prey can sleep soundly at night
because the wolves are scared to even fight

It's the slowest speed I've ever seen
The street sweeper just had been the queen
The lovers now have become a fling
Existence has become a non-material thing
__________________
Reality seems so vague
It's impossible to eradicate the plague
The women now reject to give birth
I've touched the ground but I don't feel Earth

You scream but no one hears your plea
One man's grief is another man's glee
And the windows of my eyes have just now shut
Everything pure has become somewhat

I'm unpredictable yet I'm consistent
Where the sick are somehow treatment resistant
The elephant in the room has started to preach
"I hold you so close but you feel out of reach"
__________________
I get so cautious but so carefree
Living where the government can agree
Where men are not perverted
Where the barbers are all introverted

Where Jesus is ousted for his sins
And you throw the meat out and eat the skins
The soft-hearted devil has casted a curse
that killed the driver of the hearse

One is born somewhere
Born already expected to beware
Of uncontrollable things that feel unjust
To have two cards and be dealt a bust

About this poem

Originally song lyrics, I wrote Temporary Purgatory amidst a time of intense dissociation when I was 19. When people asked me what was wrong or what it felt like, it felt impossible to explain in terms of language so I took to pen and paper and wrote this out.

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Written on May 06, 2019

Submitted by drew_e on June 10, 2022

Modified on March 05, 2023

2:21 min read
46

Quick analysis:

Scheme aabb xcdd bbefGcchh bbii jjxxGkkxx llmm eeffGnnoo bbpp qqrrGbbss ttuu vvww
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 2,367
Words 440
Stanzas 11
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 9, 4, 9, 4, 9, 4, 9, 4, 4

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    "Temporary Purgatory" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/131653/temporary-purgatory>.

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