Now

After the world ended,

But before we embraced the truth,

Crucifixion was the norm, we didn’t think twice about tomorrow or the day after.

Don’t move with such certainty ever again, we were told.

Forgotten lessons now irrelevant in the face of

Gluttonous hedonism, it’s narrow teeth caked red and begging for more and

Hopeless cynicism, clung together to create a personal demon more powerful than we ever dreamt.

I sleep when awake and continue to lurch forward,

Just another lowly cog in the apathy machine

Kindness a mere forgotten stranger,

Limited in her appeal and unable to speak.

Mustered fears and anxieties hidden deep,

No one to speak them aloud or to truly know another lonely wanderer.

Oceans of fear, strengthened by an ever rising tide of half truths and outright deceit.

Presented with calamity, we defer responsibility and feign ignorance.

Quill in hand, we write nothing.

Rituals in heart, performed without thought.

Songs in mind, we remain silent.

Timid beyond belief,

Unrelenting in indecisiveness,

Victorious in all things meaningless.

Withering internally, living in eternal night.

Xylem of the soul denied spiritual sustenance,

Youth wasted, what was lost realized mere seconds too late,

Zenith forever out of sight and unreachable.