you seal me in the cave
in the bedroom
where children
were raised
for three days
and three nights

without food water light
sound or any sensory input

other than the cold
hard stone of
the cave floor and walls

to prove myself
unconditionally

by translocating
my physical
body to
the outside of
the sealed cave entrance

you call it
the long dark night of the soul

you say that many
who have tried
went insane
or died in the process

not merely because of isolation
and utter darkness
but because
it opened their subconscious
unleashing all their inner demons

you say that to succeed
I must make peace
with darkness
both internally and externally

the first night
as I can tell
as it is all night

I run along the road
and into the wood
under leaves
weeping

until I become
the groans
of an old forest

the earth as it was
before methods
of perception

the second night
as I can tell
as it is all night

I remove my legs
my arms
my genitals

my eyes ears nose
mouth head
and all my entrails

and lay there heart
beating open
its rib cage

a senseless
trial of strength

the third night
as I can tell
as it is all night

I am an abandoned farmhouse
and I am on fire
and there is a family

of five inside
of me

they run to the balcony
and father
leaps down first
to catch the children

but the children panic
and run
back inside
pursued by mother

the remains of all four
later found
together in the ashes

hands tightly clasping
the entrance of the cave