A Question

I once crossed path with none but Sphinx,

Doing the job that one might think,

Offering a question to the passerby,

Punishing all who dare defy.

The rules were simple, as the legends know,

Answer honestly and you're free to go.

But traveller! A warning, as they say,

Those who fail, don't see another day.

An unfortunate hour was my turn to see,

How horrible the truth can turn out to be.

For it was no riddle to test the wits,

A forbidden query for your deepest bits.

The brute spoke and so I quote,

"Thou, who art still in love yet acceptest it not.

Let me pose a question unto thee,

One thyself hast oft thought."

"What is't that thy heart truly doth yearn?

Is it she, or the future thou didst dream of with her?

Answer, O accursed yet beauteous soul,

Doomed to love which thou canst never hold."

I smiled a little and looked up at the beast,

Expected to reveal a fact I knew of the least.

"How do I offer a truth not possessed?

Though I am as clueless as the next."

Sardonic eyes, teeth bared in leer.

Mocked in voice loud and clear.

"Wander, O traveler, with answers unknown,

Bearing weight that's thine and thine alone."