The Penitent
(Survivor's Guilt) |
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Dreaming, grim memories
wrapped �round him like a
cloak,
hollow-eyed wraiths
swirl about like spectral
smoke,
mind drifting through the rubble
of anguished
recollections,
masticating those doleful days
like
chewing sweet confections.
He gently strokes the aching
as though caressing a sweet lover,
yet searching,
probing, scanning,
always seeking to discover
some
relief from the haunting �
a cure for the living pain �
perhaps at least the coda
to this damned, recurring
refrain
that plays forever and ever
on the soundtrack
in his brain...
a funeral march, an alluring dirge,
a
melodious elegy.
Synced to the mournful rhythms
of his
personal threnody,
he molds a mental stiletto
forged
of sharpened, unearned guilt
and thrusts it, with a
prayer,
into his vitals to its hilt.
Then, rising like
the Phoenix
ascending from the flames,
he takes a seat
and wearily
begins his penance once again. |
By Thurman P. Woodfork
Copyright 2003, Revised 2008
Listed
March 13, 2011 |
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