Bittersweet

All elements laugh as I cast a moan While grieving for longings I've never known The mantle of the earth shrugs at my pride While isotopes titter, slow death inside This funeral for my future with you Reeks with discontent as I bid adieu Food stings with bitterness upon my tongue Air throttles like smoke while prickling my lung Minstrel songs stab pointed shards in my ear These memories taunt me to disappear Stories in books only spur me to weep For even fiction grants love that shall keep Cowering beneath my shadowy self As I despise those pictures on the shelf With tremulous hands I sweep them away Yet in these closed eyes the images play Robbing my peace while murdering my rest The toils of the ages press on my chest Each passing stranger views me with contempt They're clutching at faith while I prove exempt Wedged someplace between mortal thrill and death Brash snarling wraiths hope to garrote my breath While plump cherubs urge my dull heart to stay I don't know how I can go on this way Within the vast recesses of my mind Sprawls the grand notion of what I could find If I reached out with an uncluttered soul These howling specters would finish their stroll As one ideal dream vanishes from sight Numerous potentials pledge to invite I only seize glimpses of your face now No longer stowing that pain on your brow Lockstep in union with your family Those whispers inside preach a homily While my sheer yearning may die abated Goals are fulfilled to see you elated