Stare Down the Abyss

Note: The first 2 stanzas are from my previous 2 haikus. From there it was continued with the coauthorship of the ever brilliant Brenton F. It is a poem written at a difficult time meant to help purge a shattered soul.

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Sitting on my porch

My heart a guttering torch

Ashes on the wind

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Mind…whirling vortex

I stare into the abyss

Looking for the hope

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The hope That i once knew

The hope That i once had

Back then

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Has soured in my gut

Burnt, charred to ash

Scattered by a faithless wind

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A cold cruel wind fueled by broken dreams Petty schemes

And silent screams

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Silent screams that rend my ears

Sharp..keen..

Flaying my flesh from bone

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What use is this flesh

Now bereft of its heart

This is the nothing

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Flesh but an empty shell

Once housing a joyous soul

Now tattered, rent … violated by betrayal

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We vowed till death do us part

Yet it is hope that has expired

Pierced by a knife whet on my heart’s blood

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The hope That i once knew

The hope That i once had

Back then

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Gone …

Dried …desiccated…

Blown away by infernal whims

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Burnt by thermal winds

From fires

fanned from afar

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Sparks flamed by a heat not sanctioned

A fire which hath consumed my being

From which I must strive to rise

A phoenix …

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At one with the flames

Rising above

Born to live born to love