Fading Substance

Show them, hold them ransom

To thy conceit, craving gapes, wild applause

To feed thy vanity absent which leaves thee bare

 

Replete with faux auras, hankering for more

All style, substance fading

Vacant shells roll on clonking, hollow

 

Growing emptiness, insatiably

High on self, low on all else

Fueling manic growth of voids

 

Inner tears roll on concealed

Streaking the soul’s cheeks

Grief belied by lionizing fans

 

Whose own vacuums solicit thy refills

All the while, substance goes begging

Craving fusion with thy essence

 

Lending meat to weary bones of self

Opening eyes, hitherto blinded

By venomous pride, walls of exclusion

 

Crumbling, at the mercy of thy pride’s chisel

Fecklessly claiming, the soul’s attention

Pride now vital, an existential must

 

Love not spared the ravages of pride

Now turned outside in

Ne’er inside out, for beloveds

 

To exult over thy highest blessing

Filling life with hunks of meaning

For joys to be soulful

 

And souls to be joyful

Melting away the gloom

Of Vanity’s seasons of toxic harvest

 

©Alwi Shatry, September 7, 2017