AND NOW...

The young graduate

Fresh out of school

Fired up

Ready to ease

 Into the new cool

Maybe he sped

Maybe he was reckless

But this patch

This dry patch

Wasn’t there before

He looks back at his dreams

Then down at his hands

And he’s no longer there

He looked

But…

He wasn’t there.

Walking down

The few steps

Out from the banking hall

Heart rate slowing to a halt

And figures run through invisible sieves

 Before your eyes

Maybe you hallucinate

Maybe you are on opiates

But this nothing

This gaping nothing

Wasn’t there before

You take a step back

Then look down

At your feet

But they aren’t there

You looked

But

You weren’t there.

She cradles her newborn

With

Her back against

A harsher world

Maybe she’s the worrier

Maybe paranoid

But this darkness

This horrid darkness

Was not there before.

She holds back tears

Looks down at her bosom

And they’re gone

She looked

But

She wasn’t there

Now I sit here

Wondering what

The morning will bring

Where next to occupy

How else to survive

Maybe it’s pessimism

Maybe I’m a cynic

But this hopelessness

This crass hopelessness

Wasn’t there before.

I slip under my sheets

Make to close my eyes

But they vanished

I took a peek

But

 I wasn’t there….

I wasn’t.