No Expectation (Poem)

I have no expectations beyond the next breath
These cards I hold are a dead-man’s hand
on which I’m prepared to fold
No bluff convincing
Weariness is a tell
Push against the table yet neither it nor chair accepts the force

I’ve used up all the loves this life alloted
shared all the dreams
felt the breaking as each one crushed beneath the weight of choices I’ve made
No sparkle, no glimmer nor flicker remains in these eyes
In others seeing only darkness of soul reflected from once upon

Nothing and no one born of this earth to complete me
a soul outside a body dancing
laughing
prodding a ripening body from one folly to another
now, no other

Each sunlight in the world around
each shadow of noon
every moonless or moon lit night
ever more war, hunger, greed. longing, deception,
desperation
fear
panic
dying and death

I lay upon an altar built by dreams
surrounded by priests festering in sin
peddling more suffering with promise of redemption
but curse of damnation

All I did in life was chide Sancho
as he carried me from windmill to windmill
my lance and sword ever ready
my dagger
my quest a dream

From biological lust to elusive ghosts of love
to demon after demon erasing thoughts
words
emotion
all now upon a ship upon and endless sea

Beyond this next breath
perhaps another
One madness struggles to conquer
then another to kill the beast
all madness succumbs with a soft rush of air

I have no expectation

 

— m. dennis paul

Single Post Navigation

← Older Entry

Newer Entry →