Archive for the ‘Hellish Poetry’ Category

For the life of me I can’t remember a thing about this poem, the time it was written or what may have inspired it. But, perhaps, other things are weighing too heavily on me anyway.

Wading

Wading in the sea

Fading emotionally

Reaching inward slowly

A gaze inside I cannot see

Wading in the ocean

Fading my emotion

Reaching in with no commotion

A reflection of a haunting notion

Wading in my heart

Fading from a fire-start

Reaching outward to depart

A half without my counterpart

Wading in darkness

Fading from the starkness

Reaching to hear the harkness

Aching from apartness

Standing on a mountain

Looking ‘cross the cloudy sea

Seeing nothing in the distance

And just of Love, a memory.

9-6-1998

1998-1999 were pretty tough times. It was during this time frame that I lost my son, Nathaniel, who for all intents and purposes was essentially kidnapped by his mother with the assistance, no less, of my father. For a time–a rather long time, I have to admit–I couldn’t really focus much on anything at all. A deep depression sat in and every child I saw reminded me of him. His bedroom, still full of his toys, clothes, bed and other belongings, was often a place in which I would simply sit and despair.

More than once I considered making it my own ending space, but there is something inside that would always rage, “No, that path is for the cowardly and the weak. I am better than that; I will hold on“. And so I did–1,000 miles away. That scenario bore in me a kind of fear specific to family, and at that stage it seemed to me that those who had worked hardest to hurt me the most were unequivocally my family, especially my father. It was in large part that fear that has for years lead me to keep the remainder of my family at arm’s length, though I must say that most of the rest of them certainly did not deserve that.

I’m not exactly sure where this piece fits into that history, but I think that this was written somewhere around the time my world began to crumble, and I felt myself at a tipping point where nothing seemed clear and no future seemed certain.

Precipice

Standing Alone

Upon the Edge of Eternity

Seeing Below

All the Dreams inside of me

Like ants so far away

All I love’s scurrying free

In the emptiness of space

An infinity you cannot see

I want to fall into this dream

To swim within this sea

To hold my loves inside my grasp

And live my life freely

I’m standing on a precipice

Above the world below

Desperately wanting to embrace you

But how to get there I don’t know

Which way will I fall?

I can’t see the light

The precipice is crumbling now

And I sure could use my sight.

12-13-1998

I’d be lying if I said I could remember exactly what this was about. 1998 was a busy and difficult year that had a fair amount of things “looking up” for me. I had my son living with me, the custody case appeared to be going well (little did I know how that would change), I’d become close to someone…so I’m at a bit of a loss to explain this poem. It could be that I was having regrets about the train wreck that was the relationship with my son’s mother, but I sort of doubt it because the truth is that I never really cared for her to begin with (I know, it’s pretty sad). I’d had a fair handful of brief “relationships” with women who were enamored by the thought of a single dad, but to be honest I can’t remember a single one of their names, so I’m again drawing a blank.

Oh well. It seems sincere, at any rate, so there must have been some level of genuine pain going on at the time. I just wish I knew what it was! At least…I think I wish I knew…

Broken Heart

There’s a broken heart within these walls

A melancholy soul

A spirit walks these empty halls

Alone and unwhole

Teardrops paint the skin beneath my eyes

A sullen memory within

The past which covers up the present’s lies

A tender lover lost to my sin

A heart, which beats now in chains

Passion’s flames are flickering dim

Memories of love once lost in vain

And chances for Salvation, slim

The wind which whispers gently through the trees

O’er the river winding gently by

Finds me mournful, on my knees

My broken heart has come to die

Face the past, own the pain

No absolution comes within

The blood of true love on my hands’ a stain

And I accede to darkness creeping in.

9-6-1998