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a segment from a short story which included verse, partly from real life experience.

“Get out,” she snarled, “I hate you!” and the old familiar chill

find its way into the bowels and the heart pounds louder still

and the answers all elude me from the frayed end of a rope

so I put on masks and smile and laugh

and in the darkness, grope

for a reason or a season for believing anyone

Turn the key and lock this heart up as I once thought I had done

Smash the key, and live the mask’s life, greet the rising of the sun

with a smile of cynicism and

 a shred of trust for none.

 

But the days go by so quickly and the years are gone so fast

that the heart forgets its folly, and the sorrows of the past

never thinking that the next one will most surely be the last!

 And yet-

 

Enough years of the emptiness and locks begin to break

And why keep mending fences when there’s nothing left to take?

When the memories are fictions, life dissolves into a mist

so I sit upon the hillside and stare into the abyss.

But the morning brings a bird’s song, and in spite of all that’s been,

I smile and gather fragments up, and wait to hope again.

And the heart that’s been so broken simply will not give me rest

And the dream goes on, that maybe

still

the last will be the best.

Reviews

[Starbaby]

This is lovely and full of tentative optimism for a happy ending in due course. If you sit closer to the fire, the better the chance that its flames will warm you in time.

[Julian]

Your kindness is always appreciated= and in my case, yes, the warmth did reach me, and the best did come at last. For a time.