Ode to What Is
Before we flew
we broke the code
and thus into
the unknown rode
on gossamer wings,
such lovely things
we saw along the way.
Stardust Faeries,
goo goo dolls,
buffalo swarms
Martian spitballs!
We ne’er did stop
to smell the toads
or wonder at
pink nematodes,
too focused on
the unseen treasure.
We watched it pass
without a measure
of regret.
Laughing, crying,
we left the dying
to float away,
forgot to say,
“Farewell, so sorry!”
Nothing learned,
everything lost,
no one dared to
count the cost
of reckless life.
No good could come
of human mis-living
Existence can be
so unforgiving.
We wrote the book
of our own demise
with swords dipped in
the blood of the wise.
Click.
Suicide mode on,
gone the old ideal,
forgetting all that
we knew as
beautiful and real.
We fell so quickly,
our wings how they flamed,
more vicious and base
as all others we blamed.
Into the barren
wasteland we strode,
hungry, thirsty as
the truth of it flowed
over our souls like
a river of fire,
gone the desire
for more.
the mountains to dust,
cities to rubble,
progress to rust.
We fell to our knees
at the edge of the pool-
a silvery lake
so welcoming, cool.
“You can only drink,”
she said, melancholy,
“if you face the reflection
that shows you the folly
of its path.”
We thought it would be easy
and clamored for the drink,
until the monstrous truth
dragged us to the brink
of stark reality.
Delusion,
Confusion,
Anger,
Sin!
Tracing hideous scars
upon our skin.
Wailing, screaming and
gnashing of teeth
as most descended
to their graves beneath.
All but a few
had failed the test,
and
whispered a prayer
to forgive the rest.
Then drinking our fill,
but not one drop more,
we fell upon the ashen shore
as a gentle rain echoed happily,
the distant strains of a prophecy…..
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