Acedia

I wallow like a walrus
In my laziness,
Unable to work or play
Or even pray,
Scrawling somatic lingua franca
On the walls of my acedia.
I remain in front of the television,
Ignoring my friends’ derision,
Watching soaps from the Antipodes.
When the doorbell rings, I pull myself to my knees,
Uncoil my spine vertebra by vertebra,
Shedding clumps of crumbs and skin like cinders,
A striking image not unsimilar
To the rats that gathered in the rathskellar
Before the Pied Piper charmed them away –
I could do with him today –
When I get to the door there’s no one there,
So I return to my grotto of despair.

© Kim M. Russell, 2016

My response to Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Wordle #130 “November 21st, 2016”