Notes About The Poem
Nov. 25, 2023, placed 7th in John Lawless's Dead End Contest
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Unending Darkness
On this typical Sunday morning,
alone in his room,
he smells his favorite breakfast being prepared,
He is almost overwhelmed by the barrage of
fragrances wafting from two teenage daughters' rooms.
The loving tug at his heart is quickly overwhelmed by
his constant companions--
sadness, darkness, and self-pity.
The sounds of morning fill the house~~
water running,
bacon sizzling, eggs being cracked on the side of a bowl,
bathroom squabbles,
a TV preacher, coffee gurgling
into the pot, his wife humming "Amazing Grace."
Once like a symphony to him,
these sounds are now intrusions
that create a grinding dissonance,
an excuse to withdraw even deeper into himself.
A gentle, cool breeze touches his face,
proof of a just-opened window.
A soft pat on the back startles him.
"Breakfast, Dear--all your favorites!"
"I know. Could you put me up a plate? Thanks."
"Go with us, please."
"Maybe next time," he lies.
They're gone. Now his Sunday-morning service
begins. After a brief groping, he seizes the hidden bottle,
a substitute for the Word and faith for a
bitter, angry man long ago plunged
by a devastating freak accident
into the terror of permanent darkness.
The wall, impenetrable for family and friends,
soon dissolves into a warm, bubbly puddle.
When the family returns,
they will find a temporarily happy man.
Once again
they will cry and pray in another room.
September 18, 2017, entered in Russell Sivey's In the Dark Contest
March 3, 2018, entered in Laura Loo's Free Verse on Sadness Contest
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