Dysthymia

you are the bell,
and I am the tongue of the bell, ringing you
—Billy Collins, “Japan”

There are days I have been cast
(down) in bronze.
Gloom pervades me like patina.
I am the bells of Mary-le-Bow, long (fallen) silent,
mute, tongueless, hollowed out.

The claws of my dead dog clatter on the floor.
Even when I turn into the sunlight,
my shadow stretches in front of me,
and I can only step into the darkness.

Elizabeth Yalkut is a writer in New York City, who graduated from Emma Willard School and Barnard College, Columbia University. Her poetry has been nominated for the 2014 Best of the Net Award and has most recently appeared in Spry Literary Journal and East Jasmine Review. She can be found on the web at elizabethyalkut.com.