Sitting at a crowded bar
Staring into the tumbler
You hold
Like all the secrets
Of the world
Swim in the spirit
Bubbling at the bottom
Your purpose
Was last seen
Struggling, barely alive
After a stampede
On a darkened
Dance floor
Lying on a satin bed
Staring up at her face
Distorted,
Her painted
Lips parted
Letting out
A foreign language –
A string of long vowels
Carried on a single breath
Then she calls your name
While you struggle
To remember hers
Your self-control
Was last seen
Comforting
The last heart
You broke
Before a purple altar
Standing on the beach at dawn
Contemplating each wave
As if
It might just carry
Away the mismatched
Set of lies you
Stitched together
And hung
Round your frail frame
Like Joseph’s coat
Of many colours
Your honesty
Was last seen
Aboard a ship
Being carried off
Into the horizon
You see now.
Sitting on a low bench
Wondering what it was
That happened
That caused
The hunch
On your back
Forgetting that
Avarice took
Over your surname
The night you vowed
To care less about
The rest of us
Your contentment
Was last seen
Whistling
In oblivion
Down the slick path
Into the shadows
It is all a wonder
To us who stay on
Watching
Observing
The transformation
That slowly ate
Away at you
And left you
Stuck
In the
Whirl
Of depression
Your eyes are blank
And you no longer feel
You do not wish to know
That
Your very self
Was last seen
Taking itself apart
At the junction
Where child
And adult
met
