Lost by Katherine Lee (16, California)

With shaky breaths and heavy heartbeats, 
I find myself in an abyss and
Frantic, forage for something familiar
To ease my rising fretfulness. 

I strain to move my anchored legs 
Yet cannot escape this chasm. 
Caught, I cry out with scorched throat
But hear only a pathetic echo.

---

My clammy hands yearn for someone
Lost to me here in the void.
I fall to powerless knees: abandonment
Strikes at me like a cobra.

I wrench away to the feet of a woman 
Looking like a soul once known
With her simple smile but sad eyes
Seeing me flinch with fright.

She seems to wait for my double take,
But it fails to come until I see 
Her once ebony hair streaked with age;
And my breakdown begins. 

Sobbing, my teary eyes open, 
Awake and free from this nightmare;
I race to look for my mother:
My savior, my ideal, my friend. 

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