Once the future promised brilliance, but it never came to light
As the star I’d used to guide me dimmed and blended with the night.
The astronomy of darkness lured me farther from my goal
Till I stumbled at the crossroads where I lost my self control.
This magnificent amnesia puts the washboard to my shame.
Can’t remember where I’m headed. Don’t recall from where I came.
Empty cans amid the crossties, broken bottles by the rail,
Are the blazes and the landmarks that illuminate my trail;
Like conspicuous reminders of an unforgiving past,
Through a thousand level crossings, each more lonesome than the last.
But magnificent amnesia plays its lullaby refrain.
To memories asleep in the asylum of my brain.
Once the future wore the costume of a carefree, smiling rogue;
Now it slouches like a ragman down a narrow dead end road.
I don’t b*tch and moan, regardless; only mama’s boys complain.
I just trudge on in the darkness through a piss of pouring rain.
This magnificent amnesia is the perfect compromise,
And a cavalier expression is my everyday disguise.
Categories:
ragman, loneliness,
Form: Lyric
Don't wear your heart
Outside your vest,
Said the ragman.
It is inevitable that surveillance
Will capture you
In your least expected moment,
When you cannot hold near
That which lives outside the cage.
Don't wear your heart
Like a token
Or like an icon.
Hearts are not meant
To be torn, then mended,
Like old silk.
Sometimes the guests
At the table
Are wrongly arranged;
A shuffle is needed
So that hearts can heal.
Categories:
ragman, heart,
Form: Free verse