Betty Jo Hilger - Terrified…

Have you ever watched a rabbit when it knows it has been seen…
When the danger bells are sounding with alarm…
When he stops within that instant, and he hopes to disappear
Freezing, in that moment, locked within his fear

Or that deer caught in the headlights look, fleeing through his eyes
When arrested there in time he cannot breathe
Staring, yet unseeing, undetectable to self
His heart in shredded terror on his sleeve

When a petrified event is the juncture of his mind
Suspended from ability to think
Where his reason flown away, lays deserted in the quay
Drowning in a well of bilious ink

Overwhelmed and overstressed,
He is overcome with grief
Stationary, still, immobilized
Traumatized he cannot move, shocked by disbelief
And you watch his spirit shrivel up and die?

The helplessness is heartbreaking…

Betty Jo Hilger

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/terrified/