steve1223 Poetry (718)

When tomorrow shatters yesterday
And your life is only wreckage
From depths of despair demons rise
To dance across your memories

Through your eyes the pain invades
Like a star going super nova
Then the sound like a sonic boom
It splits your skull wide open

Nothing you do a difference makes
No praying to the 'Great I Am'
You wonder if there's anything there
To let you live to suffer

Finally the day's end is here
A time to escape in slumber
But all too soon the morn arrives
And anew begins the suffering

Once again this quest I'm on
This journey ever onwards
The spirit calls to journey on
I'll follow where it leads me

Through twist and turns of mind and thought
And things that surround me
Whispered words of what to write
And their interpretation

You may see the same I see
And yet you see it different
I'm not right and you're not wrong
We all just differ

So on I'll plough to write my words
To see the world bit different
Maybe in my shoes you'll stand
My visions to be sharing

So journey on with me my friend
Across this minefield laid
Never knowing next step we'll take
Or what we find within there

at twenty eight
you moan and you groan
you think life is unfair
and has done you wrong

should have gathered acorns
and now be filthy rich
yet there is the curve ball
and life is a b*tch

now at sixty five
you look back and cry
send prayers to heaven
and ask 'why, why, why'

so go live your life
each day by day
then you look back
i did it my way

Love, I know not what it means
I have no concept of that feeling
Nor do I know the other emotions
Hate, anger, pity, empathy and others

I feel absolutely nothing, emptiness inside
I see the world in black and white
While others see all the different colours
And yet I do not miss anything

How can I miss something I have no concept of
Something that I have never once experienced
Do I howl and wail at the moon for my loss
No ! I simply just don't care at all

But I am careful never to let it be seen
Never to let my secret out to the world
For there are those that would wish me evil
Would see me locked up for treatment

So on I go, I blend right in
You might call me a human chameleon
I pretend so well that you can't tell
That I play at showing these emotions

You could talk to me at any time of day
And you'd be none the wiser
So you go and love, laugh and cry
And live life as it was dealt you

"The time has come to talk of things"
Said the rabbit to the condor
The rat and the snake were quick to agree
Yet the old tortoise needed time to ponder

The dragon came with heavy tread
Huffing, puffing and breathing fire
They all ran, things were getting hot
At this rate they would have a pyre

"Please stop," the condor cried
As he flew high overhead
"Stop huffing and puffing and burning things
Or soon we'll have some dead."

Warily the rat came up
And gave the dragon ale
Greedily the dragon drank
He sank pail after pail

A mighty burp and down he fell
His snoring echoed throughout the dell

“What is it like,” with hushed breath asked
“To be surrounded by the dead?
The work you do, so much death see
It chills me to the bone.”

“Listen close you’ll hear their voices
Crying out loud and clear
We are innocent, we have suffered
Our life has been cut so short.”

“Hear our voices as we cry for justice
Don’t let us rot in lonely grave
Our killers walk the streets of freedom
No remorse for crimes they did commit.”

“Listen, listen. They are calling
I’m the one to give them peace
Find the clues, pierce together
In the end truth will prevail.”

Death is standing at your door
Through watery eyes he looks
Tissue from his black robes brings
And dripping sound of running nose

As he breathes a rattle you hear
So hollow and horrid from his chest
And then what sounds like a racking cough
With his ribs clanging together

Terror struck you stand there
Not knowing what to do
Here is Death, he's come for you
It's time for your life to end

But in your heart compassion sways
As you invite him in
A hot toddy with rum laced
And honey to sweeten taste

Gratefully he slowly sips
And the cough it seems to ease
Gradually his former self
Out of the wretchedness appears

You're ready now to go with Death
You've made peace with yourself
As you tell him that you will go
From his robes a book he pulls

Through the pages he quickly flips
And stops at a name that's you
With pen he writes, then shows to you
'For kindness shown live til 93'

Without a word he turns around
And into night dissapears
Your life's been spared, many years more
And you are a man of barely 23

The night was dark, much darker than
A night like this should be
Though moon was out and shining bright
It did not reach through the trees

The silence here was absolute
Even the wind was deathly still
No faintest creak of swaying tree
Or rustle from their leaves

No scurrying sound on forest floor
As creatures go about nightly tasks
No hoot of owl from top of trees
It was as if all had died within

The senses slowly become aware
Of a stench most odious and vile
This hateful smell like hands reach out
To grasp all within it's reach

And now a sound to chill to the bone
Of something that was spawned elsewhere
Not part of this planet called 'Earth'
But from deep within the hell of hells

The only chance to escape alive
Is to leave right now before too late
Perchance should you see this thing
Then be dammed to hell for eternity

The life I’ve led has been so hard
That my body’s quite a wreck
Don’t ask about my state of mind
For up is down and in is side out

So many scars my body cover
I look like a turkey wrapped
I’m sure were it not for all of these
My insides would be on the floor outside

Now you might think I exaggerate
But you should see my left leg
Two rods, four pins, but that’s not all
Twenty seven screws together all hold

My right leg, I’m not sure where’s that
Many years ago was lost
All they gave me was a wooden peg
And with white ants that is riddled

My arms are fine, they work all right
Well, maybe not as good as yours do
It only took thirty three procedures
I swear they had fun slicing and dicing

Even my breasts did not escape
This mad ride called life
With all the ops that they performed
They now bruise my knees

I thought that when the end is near
My body to science I’ll give
Got in touch with the Body Farm
And filled out their application

Wasn’t long before round they came
To see what they’d be getting
Asked if I’d mind stripping off
For an examination so thorough

When out I stepped the woman screamed
And to her knees she dropped
“Holy Mary Mother of God,
Save me from this abomination.”

On she prayed as tears ran
While backwards she was crawling
Finally the door she reached
And down the road she fled

The man just stood there white as a ghost
His mouth wide open hanging
Faint moans escaped his lips
And sweat from his face pouring

Suddenly he turned and ran
As if on his heels Hell’s Hounds
Left his car where it was parked
Just fleeing on his mind

As slowly I dressed again
I pondered what had happened
Did that mean that the Body Farm
Had rejected my application

Here I sit watching world go by
In colours drab and drear
I don't know why I feel this way
Why this depression has a hold on me

I drink and drink all day and night
It does not cheer, makes me feel morose
The coke I sniff costs me so much
Yet I think I'm badly hooked

People look and say, "Hey man,
You got the world at your feet."
But none of it matters at all
And I really don't know why

I contemplate the final end
As to how, where and when
My kids I adore, but no thought of them
Nor of my wife who loves me so

Decision made, the deed I'll do
A rope around my neck
One swift kick, the chair flies
Across the room it bounces

The rope so tight around my neck
It chokes the life from me
Last thought that crosses my mind
Too late, I want to live

When we were young life was so easy
It was all in black and white
Love was hot and passions ran deep
Consequences did not exist

Stumbling and falling did not matter
Right back up and into the fray
Every day there were new adventures
Tomorrow brought a new love to life

Years pass slowly, yet too quickly too
The colours change to shades of grey
White no longer crisp and clear
The black a washed out of former self

Takes years of living to finally realise
That nothing is cut and dried
Truth exists in many versions
It's all a matter of how we see

So there we sit with long life behind us
Wishing we learned it long ago
Each one has their own road to travel
Different ways we reach this end

Why Ba’al-zebub, why? Together we've walked
Down this road dark and drear
So many people have kicked me down
Just because to me you are near

I must admit my patience I've lost
And cursed them all to Hell
Did you listen, act on my curses
For some aren't doing so well

Some have met a grizzly end
Hacked to pieces, their life had fled
Some drowned, others burned
The lucky ones died in their bed

So tell me is it because of what I said
Or like me, does your hate run deep
It matters not, just you and me
I'll rejoice while their widows weep