Nicholas Browning

Duality

 

This torrent of self doubt has eaten its fill,

And it can be shown to express no sympathy.

Before the lake\'s reflection lay a shivering child -

Too frightened to accept its duality.

 

Yearning to see the world and its wonders,

The child began to crawl.

Through blistering suns and resounding moons,

You learn and remember the surface of the lake -

And what you saw within yourself.

 

Definitions become apparent, as vigor seems to fade,

Transfixing horrific gestures while clinging to another day.

See, these people aren\'t akin to you.

They could never comprehend,

That the things you\'ve witnessed and the things you\'ve heard said,

Are evidence that you are different.

 

Faced with a troublesome paradox, knowing all but the answer -

A saddened morsel of flesh begins yet another journey.

Truth is found in wretched places, where even the light does not tread.

So, in spite of all the warnings, you traverse the darker road, instead.

 

Seeking enlightenment, for lost is the tiny lamb,

Perplexed, though still this path to go.

The zenith of desperation, it all becomes clear -

No more need for idle chatter, no need to delay the show.

 

In a cemetery since forgotten by those who laid the stone.

Its crypts long decrepit, and its garden much overgrown.

On a sullen morn fit for diggers,

Amongst all those detested and adored.

The name you read upon that obelisk -

Indeed child, it was yours.