FAMILIAR FIENDS

I suffer the company of these aged emotions

decrepit familiar fiends who were once close friends

I invite them back for retellings of the same stories

that become increasingly harder to endure

at the Table of Wishes that will never come true.

I fight the logic of asking them to leave

against the illusion of my better judgment

which they drain from me daily

fully knowing the time will inevitably come

when their folly will trump my sensibility.

My heart feels ransacked by their sharp words

leaving the remnants to rattle like dice in the hands of a gambler

tiny fissures form in my willingness to stay silent

opening my thoughts to counter-productive actions

and through these holes my sorrow seeps through.

There is no end to the stories they tell

even though the dénouement has yet to be written

existing as a cliff hanger taken to an author's grave

while still I hold on to a fading hope

preserved and prepared as an enticement for their next visit.

They vanish with a grumble of their final piercing words

without so much as a cursory glance in my direction

and no evident concern for my growing disaffection

because they know with certainty

that I will call upon their company once again.