Time's Loving Deceit

Anger flies with swift wings As tedious pleas for more time reverberate through his mind He is the servant of Time- yet takes the blame When her clawed hand unwinds the clock He, the sovereign of the dark, the one and only truth! Is at the front of the onslaught of screams He moves soundlessly, a shadow in the world Tormented whispers scattering around him Fear spreading wildfires' shrill promise Mercy, a withering carcass in a crude burial He became Hope's last regret When he became the prince of darkness, Forgoing all he once was, and all he could have been When he sailed away from home, his love for Time burned He had loved her, caressing her supple frame Faithfully staying by her side, And Time managed to wrap her cruel talons Around his frozen heart Dwindling him down to nothing more, than abject self-loathing And she trapped him within her bondage, for eternity Now he wanders, over and over again in his servitude A trapped guardian of the dark The fog horn groaned its complaint of “too.late” Under darkened sea that once birthed horizon And Hark! a maelstrom of black ink Behold its terrific evil and terror! A swirling whirlpool announcing you-have-been-fooled And the cries of fright forever ruled Scream in delight—“He suffers our fate…in pain we celebrate!” He no longer looked along the swirls in terror But was now part of its ferocious cycle Tears mixing with the agonizing laughter Amidst salty moans and tepid sweat Soon… exhausted by the chaos… he sank into a most foggy pit Ashamed, naked, barren of all past wit A cowardly frame, shivering in unknown terrain Inside a place where Time is gone…. But always looming in the brain…. As the errant fogs lift, The grizzled trees’ feet curl in sensuous fervor of the cold He envies e’en the trees, with heartless relish of their misty exhalations Under shuttery breath he no longer truly breathes, … he sighs… Might I never reach the heights of even the mel-lowed fog? Shall I burn upon the dead leaves, rising only to fall? From that day forward, He wandered blindly Both loving and loathing pulsing tempos of silence “I’m still in love…” He whispers softly. “Oh how I am in love…” The dark that once befriended him almost smiles now… …then why do I feel so alone? The wind blows in almost an unnerving jeer A cool wisp enunciating Time’s uncouth rejection For she loved no one, yet all Loving with a cruel wish to watch the other fall How many has she taken, he would never know For in shadow comes confusion and woe —and the voices he hears do not sound of his kind But who am I? What am I? A slave in Time’s forever grind… 8/30/12 A very special collaboration with Rebecca Larkin