latent shale
I joined the dawn of the gunmetal skies,
My heart pounded with purpose,
It guided my steps,
One after another on the cracked earth.
Hollow echos follow after my steps,
Yet each one is a gamble,
playing a game with death.
As the choking smoke covered the battlefield,
I could make out only a faint silhouette.
I edged closer with a slow, careful motion.
The stranger noticed me,
A knife-edged tension filled the air.
His silence held a storm,
And in his eyes I saw the war waiting inside me.
“Do you remember the promise we made in the dark?”
Dong… the distant church bell rung,
Dong… a silence now broken and replaced.
I hear the forgotten childhood melody— doo… doo… Dee…— it faltered like a broken lullaby.
Each note slipped, offbeat, adding to my heartbeat.
My hand started reaching for you.
“I thought I could stop it, but now I can’t undo what’s been done”
I collapsed, the weight crushing me into the ground.
Clouds form in my eyes, it begins to rain.
I close my eyes, I don’t wanna look anymore.
Tick… the clock counts down.
Tick… I feel the world only ever so faintly now.
Tick… everything has gone quiet.
lighting rips open the sky-CRACK-
As it slams down into the broken earth,
My eyes have been forced open,
I stared blankly into a mirror,
The reflection wasn’t just a face;
It was a verdict,
Cold and unflinching.
Each line on its face carved into an accusation,
The eyes were darker then the black all around,
Frozen in fear, I was pinned to the spot.
As if the world waited for me to break beneath its gaze.
My heart that once beat with purpose,
doo…Dee…doo… Now beat like the broken melody.
We weren’t on the same team,
we weren’t even on the same side,
Yet you trusted me, found a friend in me.
And I used that to end this war,
But was that all worth it?
The question rung in my mind like an alarm clock.
And as the rain fell heavier,
So did the weight in my chest,
I still didn’t have an answer.
Still hearing the distant endless ticking,
Counting the cost.
gentle kayak
cerulean wadi
smoky sparrow