(On the edge of waking.)

Whispered wraiths upon the floor
The ghosts of those you thought you knew
Voices soft whose words you ignored
Who shall never again darken your door.
Dazzled, glib and reckless vitality
Calls you onto treacherous back roads
With forgotten graceful symbols
Burned into your skin, branding you,
Your utterances and imaginings,
Which once held you enthralled,
Devout priest and scholar of now empty words.
You've come across the real deception

and it is yours.

Past forgiveness, past retreat
As a refuted life falls at your feet.
Our eyes drown expectations on your shoulders
And in your torment, trapped in waking dreams
Incensed, you find yourself alone.
And everything is what it seems
Wasted time, childish dreams.
Our warning voices, stabbing jeers
Resound with the rueful silence of friends.
You've found the mistakes you searched for

and they are yours.

And the many wrong turns you took in faith,
Denying warmth for later glories
Have made you now, in truth, life's slave
Fortunes derided have become your own.