extant despite efforts otherwise

I am not the keeper of your crypt

where souls may rest, stay or resist

the very hauntings you commit

with your addled mind set adrift

lay blame when it is unequipped

to reconcile what you could not predict

but readily testifies to external rifts

where at the core rots an addict

chaos, snow and liquor-gripped

shown by a bloodied, shaking fist

mixed wanton, fear, and maledict

a curse on self, your own blood drips

these walls of stone cannot be chipped

your woes and actions still contradict

the assertion that this was all a trick

because love is not a battleship

it’s a flowing river you can’t restrict

with time and circumstances it shifts

the way it veers you must admit

this love you felt won't be dismissed

but you will not take love conscript

it is freely given not freedom-stripped

diversions made you and they relict

it was your doing, not their dict

to endure the caterwauls you spit

soul remanded, idolate and predilect

accounts for shame you do omit

lovers will stay of their own writ

and will turn away if you insist

that two can perpetually subsist

on truths ripped and promises stitched

claimed by little more than a hedonist

who believes himself a true altruist

seeks repentance in marks he whipped

rejects how the healing mind decrypts

whence it was formed and lost its grit

so here you are beneath this brick

the anger grips, your laments lip

a pirate ship you cannot vict

demand no witness to this conflict

the play is over, let go of the script

there are no more villains to depict

you missed the mark, amended whit

I am not the keeper of your crypt

FIN

Thank you for reading! Poetry has never been a medium I gravited to but more and more I find myself turning to it to express my feelings during periods of high emotionality. I am a disabled writer with limited income, and Vocal gives me the opportunity to make some money doing what I love. If you resonated with my work, please consider sharing it and leaving a tip. It's hugely appreciated.

— Rooney