Working In The Darkness

It seemed as if I strained to leave a message by pressing tiny keys in heavy mittens

I thought I spoke very clearly given that I was so far beneath the surface

On my knees I felt my way with heavily-wrapped hands, alone

I tried to read but there was too much darkness before the tiny print

I heard many of the finer details crumbling beneath my clumsy feet

I had to remove all my tools just to squeeze on thru the smallest openings

I thought they spoke to me as I crawled by, but they were simply saying grace

I was condemned to groping with zippers flaps and buttons with thick gloves in darkness

Always sat down to eat only to realize there were no forks or knives

Kept on finding myself driving far faster backwards than I ever would have considered

Could not free the strap but it was too dangerous to remove my mittens

Groped my way through a black labyrinth that was but a child’s cluttered bedroom

Followed my trail in a circle cleaning up what flaked off my muddy boots

Working through the noisy rooms, I could not quite grasp their radio transmissions

Craved to rip my mask away but knew the atmosphere was deadly poison

I handed up my shovel when the hole was dug and then they told me to lay down

Working in that smoky darkness, over-heated and running low on air

We repeatedly shouted simple things to each other through our coverings and the din

Though I rose quickly for the surface, I was not sure if I could hold my breath that long

The protective lens was fogged but with the smoke it did not matter

I was wearing and carrying far too much to even do the little work assigned me

Hardly able to keep up, much more of a burden than any help at all

Feeling the entire sandy hill slide underneath me towards an unseen cliff

Forced to accidentally break many useful objects just to find the door

I concentrated my efforts on overloaded groping like a blind and half-deaf mole

I solved the puzzle with perfect logic but never knew my solution began incorrectly

Came to an ambivalent fork that was not on the map, far too long ago to turn back now

Working in the darkness, everything I had taken for granted rose up to claim my attention

As I moved, different parts of my body each locked into position like a finished puzzle

With every sweating overheated gasping breath I longed merely to kneel and rest

Moving through this poisonous darkness with all our senses protected, and cut off

Far-off voices called after me and I simply could not bring myself to ignore them

From somewhere within me came the feel of that cool Canadian air from my boyhood

I lay there thinking that I heard that church bell tolling long and gentle once again

I dreamed I was mummied up in bandages and blankets rolling down a bumpy road

But sometimes the darkness did not frighten me because I had no more light within