Irregular Days

He said “Do you want to live like a predator,
or do you want to be sacrificed like a lamb?”
He said “There is no such thing as neutrality.”
“We’re months at sea and you have to pick a side!”

“As far as you’ve been, as far as you’ve gotten.
No, no not even this can whipe away those scars.
Like a wound slashed upon a soldier’s face.
They see your past. They are going to eat you alive.”

“Oh my, look inside!
Your paradise is here with mine.”

She said “Time is awfully beautiful,
it marches us all towards the same sick end.”
She said “But these bars placed around my cell,
won’t turn to sand until long past my prime.”

“As far as I’ve been, as far as I’ve gotten.
No, not even you will ever be enough.
You see this disguise was cut from paper,
They see my past. They are going to eat me alive.”

“Oh my, look inside!
Paradise is hard to find.”

They walked along the road through the marsh that night
Their hands pressed firmly to their sides.
He watched the road ahead, her eyes, they met the ground.
He stumbled to find words, she never made a sound.
His hand stretched out for a moment to meet her own
But as he looked up to find his way to hers,
she had vanished into the fog just like a spectre.
He whirled around in a panic and screamed her name at the air,
But only the songs of distant frogs permeated his ears.
He heard the words she said again play inside his head like a record
He placed his hands over his head and fell to his knees
But the words, the words just wouldn’t cease.
He crumbled into a ball as the rain began to pour,
But the deluge couldn’t drown out the sound of her voice.

“Oh my, look inside!”
My paradise is not yours to find.”

He said “Time, now time hasn’t been so kind,
My whole life has crumbled into ashes.”
He said “Are you out there? Did you ever even care?”
Why couldn’t you just listen?”

“No, the air around you was always still,
Those eyes were filled with sadness.
Oh, not even a faint laugh was heard.
Did I ever even help at all?”

“Oh my, look inside!
My paradise was lost that night.”

She said “I’ve gone now, over that bridge
Between hopeless and romantic.
The time alone with you was like a dream.
But dreams they are just a passing glance,
my destiny was not to dream, it was to die.”

“Oh my, look inside!
I was never meant for paradise.”

He sat alone now, older than she remembered,
His beard, it nearly touched the ground.
As he surveyed his domain beneath the sky
He was sure he caught a glance
of her personal unique brand of radiance that
only he could claim to understand.
Oh, time had passed but she hadn’t aged a day
He, oh, he could hardly wait.
The brick beneath him gave way to humid air,
and he cast his wings astride,
but he knew they were cut from paper
And as his broken body crashed into the ground
it wasn’t the cobblestone that met him there,
it was her same old embrace.
The cracks and creases began to fill with brilliant red
But a smile now overcame him.
And with that last gasp of fulfilling air
He screamed out his compassions.

“Oh my, look inside!
We’ll be together in paradise.”

Filed under:
Lyrical Poetry, Misc by Tawny