Roadside Monument

every song, every line scrawled,
of poetry and of prose,
rasps at this open wound,
and calls back your absence,
like a disturbed spirit summoned,
to possess old familiar haunts,
these scrapes and slashes teach,
my senses what is refined,
and show that I’ve lost,
that which was never mine,
nine tenths of the law,
were to another already licensed

then need we flagellate so,
need we be so transfixed,
I won't accept just being,
an expense in your ledger,
a tariff paid to affection,
with no hope of dividend,
leaves and love have fallen,
blood red by the roadside,
what is life but death,
that has gone to seed

need we be so transfixed,
what is life but death, 
that has gone to seed,
blood red by the roadside,
outside of the city gates
Copyright © | Year Posted 2019

Poem

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Sharp Avatar
May 16, 2019 at 11:32 PM
Excellent write, Luke, as always. You've expertly conveyed an undercurrent of tragedy, an almost hollow, indistinguishable pain. Great stuff.
Hobbs Avatar
June 5, 2019 at 4:31 AM
Thank you, Lawrence. You have the most perceptive comments and often get things that I only saw in the poem after writing it :)
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