Part three of three. The best of the three, in my opinion.

#200. "A Life Without Wings" (10.15.2007)
you pick at my faults like
scabs - trouble is, the scars
just open back up again -
failure's my most familiar
companion - you couldn't
possibly understand.

even sisyphus reached the
summit, while i never get far
beyond the bottom - we both have
our similar burdens, crashing down,
starting all over, it never ends -
you judge us from the top,
looking down, though i know
of no such mischief i committed
towards you to warrant it -
you know i'm suffering,
but you don't understand.

your words press down one
by one on me, each a stone,
until before i know it
my breath is gone and you've
left me hollow - each word
knowing and ignorant, right and
wrong, sharp and dull - you know
just what to say for someone
who doesn't know me at all.

you yell down to me from
the top of the hole that
i dug myself into - "just
pull yourself out" - "that
easy, huh?" i would laugh
if it weren't so damn sad -
a regular marie antoinette -
let them eat cake - you don't
know that we have nothing.

"get over it, buck up" -
those are your words, straight
from your pulpit, judgment
exacted from on high, morally
superior - you'd send me to
hell if i weren't there
already - does it make you feel
better? to kick me while i'm
down - if so, you're no better
than what you condemn - i would
fly but i don't have your
angel's wings - what's worse
is you think i do - you think
i can pull myself out, fly out -
is that how you got so high up
on that horse? - god never
walked this earth and you never
walked any distance in my shoes -
so why do you think you could
possibly understand? when you've
never lived a life without wings.

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