Castaway

I refuse to be consumed by these endless crashing waves

To sink within unnoticed depths, a fate no one craves

My head will break above the sea, despite hit after hit

For against the tide of time, I shall never submit

I refuse to be a forgotten painting within a shattered frame

A docile, floating memory of a soul that could not be tamed

The irony! To fade not in wholesome darkness but an empty grey

No, not even seen in the night, simply a fallen leaf stepped on during the day

I refuse to be the final smoking breath of a dying ember

A distant melody, never to be heard or remembered

But instead, a flame to persevere through each dousing rain

A flame to burn a thousand years  smoke caught in every lung

Not a sullen crescent moon, whose life begun to wane

To live in every word ever spoken, every song ever sung

I refuse, I refuse, I refuse to fade out in an empty grey

I refuse, I refuse, I refuse to be a crumpled leaf on a passing day

I refuse, I refuse, I refuse for the winds of time to blow me away

I refuse to land on the shadowed island of history, a castaway