30 Day Poetry Challenge - Day Thirty

Day Thirty - Write a poem where something (big or small, abstract or concrete) comes to an end.



And in the End…

And in the end,
I stare at the precipice of eternity
A gaping, sucking maw of uniform chaos
Dissolving the foundations beneath my feet.

Grain after grain, stone after stone;
Everything that was safe and recognizable
Is crumbling to bracingly unrecognizable dust,
Bringing me closer and closer
To my own destruction… or my own reimagining,
For this could be my a new beginning
Just as easily as it might become my undoing.

Set in motion long ago by invisible cosmic forces,
Guiding me like a friendly cobblestone path
Through the thick of the forest…
I follow it forward with never a thought
Of where it might take me,
Telling myself I’ll turn back soon enough.

There is no going back for me;
The paths behind me are a faded wash
Of sandy, unattainable nostalgia,
Far beyond the grasp of my wishful fingertips,
So there’s only the end for me…

But do I let the ground fall beneath my feet?
Do I let the upheaval sweep me away;
A flailing, floundering passenger trapped
In the rush of a raging river’s current?

Or just perhaps… I’ll bring my knees in,
Hold out my hands before me,
Bow to the breathtaking rush of unknown
And spring forward into a graceful dive,
Proudly, and on my own terms.

Here I go…

Fallout

Fallout

Ties, untied; unbound; unwound,

Broken strings unraveled,

Ripped in two

By sailing, stormy-weathered vessels

Drifting apart in the mist.

All entanglement, all entwining,

All destroyed by unforgiving

Circumstance,

All decayed by searing,

Wearing winds

All love, all joy, all fiery passion,

Far beyond its expiration date

And all that’s left is the fallout.

Regret

Regret

Quiet whispers haunt my restless dreams,

A familiar voice; pained, weeping,

Crying her shaking sorrow into the darkness…

“You should have known better…

You should have done right by me.”

I toss and I turn and I punch my insolent pillow

While no peace finds me there.

I’m staring into the abysmal nighttime mirror,

Lost to the face of the one I’d betrayed.

I broke her heart

More effectively than a bowling ball

Carelessly thrown through a window pane,

And as I see the tearful hate in her eyes,

I know there’s no going back…

I could have been a better man…

I should have been a better me.

The honeyed words she once spoke to me;

The tender sparkle in her smile…

Gone… all gone… in my unforgivable cowardess;

My cruel ploy, reeking of fear and doomed to fail.

What have I really gained… what have I lost…

What have I done?

Going Back Inside

Going Back Inside

By Brandon Palzkill     

Premature nighttime

falls on a colder day…

Summer has ended.