bewildered
we infants cry between fleeting moments
barely sensing our breached safety
our delicate psychic shoots uprooted by stress, de-stress
between screams, barely time to catch our breath,
exhausted beyond recovery, entombed top to toe
uncle Donald named our catastrophic collapse ‘privation’
precursor to Bowlby’s maternal ‘deprivation’,
my co-dependency led me to fear breakdown, now
confused after your absence, I awaken in a gap
anchored in silent bewilderment,
my solitude of privation still awaits,
lurking, afterwards
Nachträglichkeit
George Halasz
8 April 2025