A Thousand Cuts

A poem that can be categorized as dark, it concerns a man in fear for his life. That proves to be his fateful undoing.

                                    A Thousand Cuts

 

A thousand tiny cuts add up to form one

jagged slash.

A thousand broken promises can cause your

trust to crash.

            A thousand misspent tears dried up, a thousand

            stained-glass faces;

            A thousand cuts pierce cleanly through a thousand

            sacred spaces.

 

When every dreadful nightmare shines its light on

muddied wishes,

And every acid rainfall kills a trillion

tiny fishes;

            A thousand words won’t sanctify the wars waged

            on religions,

            The thousand cuts will spread and sow some

            sacrilegious visions.

 

When looking forward at the past, these visions

seldom matter,

When picking grapes, the lot gets dropped, entire

vineyards splatter.

            The meaning of his spoken word was much too pure

            to give;

            His death came by a thousand cuts, because he feared

            to live.

 

          

                      riki © 2011

Reviews

[Kelly Scheppers]

Riki, I feel like I keep repeating myself in these comment boxes, but you have turned out to be one lucky penny that I have come across today! Each poem I read invites me to read one more, than another...and what a scroll down the page, it is!

I am delighted to see some readers here before me! ...you're so deserving of more!

[dan]

Kelly, I'm sorry I've not reviewed more of yours yet but trust me, I definitely will. I'm really not used to all this positive feedback, so this is very new to me, it's taken me aback a bit. Oh, hell, I'm going to your page right now and review one, then I've got to get ready to sleep (I am old, you know?) Thank you for your support and positive reviews, I really do appreciate everything. take care...dan

[Kelly Scheppers]

Dan, please don't think you have to rush to read...I'm not going anywhere, and this friendship has so much time to grow. By the way, I like "Dan"...it fits you better than Riki.

[modtoddinc]

Riki/Dan - Very enjoyable poem. I am fascinated with the concept of death by a thousand cuts, not morbidly, but rather in the psychological/metaphorical sense. I think the tongue is truly a way we kill with a thousand cuts... anyway, I digress. Well written, and timed with rhyme. I like the second stanza's message of tears wept, and stained-glass faces relating to clean cuts in sacred places... excellent imagery filled with subtle yet strong truth!

~Peace, Todd

[dan]

Todd, Thank you for reaching back into my earlier posts, when I was still calling myself by my pen name riki (the name of my ferret). It was during my "write everything in rhyme form" phase, which I've deviated from lately. I may write a few rhyming pieces again, who knows? Thank you for the kind words. take care...dan

[Daniel Eckert]

So deep and dark yet so beautiful and true. A wonderful write an a pleasure to read.

[Christine]

Too True. "His death came by a thousand cuts, because he feared to live". A lesson for us all, and well written. Good rhyming, enjoyed.

[Brandon Wesley Mckay]

See.....this is the sort of thing I could never bring myself to do ( I say as I consider the possibility )
There is a lyrical quality to this that is beautiful. I love that the beat of the words drives one to read them.

Just lovely, really.

[Falling Leaf.]

What a harsh truth this is, each teardrop and each grain of sand, there's some saying about that somewhere. A million little things can push someone over the edge. Reminds me of the opening line of The Cask of Amontillado: "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne the best I could." The man in the story was subtly driven insane by the little quips made by Fortunato, his frenemy. Anyway. This was a sorrowful, but beautiful piece; I could feel your emotion throughout. Thank you for sharing the stellar poetry.