Overkill #9 - Original Poetry by Rachel Panepinto, '13

Wasted Winter

Lost I was in the midst of a bitter night.

Unaccompanied, but comforted for I

saw myself standing between

two dark outlines; a silhouette of trees

all leaning steadily. And me, arching my back upon its

tense, torn bark, looked through and up

around the fog to find all the misplaced birds

absent with black feathers

that welcomed themselves upon my winter skin.

Yet flicking them once, I was baffled to find—

looking up, what my eyes observed

were all but colors upon their bare wings!

And the fruitless vines, broken branches still

watched over me as the birds let out a fierce trill;

tipped the skinny cigarette between my fingers

downward, down, until the ashes met the grayness

on the ground. How I realized still, that Me, Oh I

was older than now. Smarter, braver, wiser—

altogether I saw what I could not see before,

sinking in my darkened essence I remembered

to look back at me-that-was-lost and point

toward home. That's when I knew I was not

alone.

Rachel Panepinto