A Morbid Ode (circa 1998)

Convinced of things that could never be,
Retired to the wicked truth you composed,
That a foolish chase after elusive shadows
Was the sum of it all…
My death throes mercifully gave way to empty repose.

The sight of many fallen –
The bold, the helpless, the naïve and the frail –
I took my place amongst the sons of Folly !
It offers comforting consolation
in the face of humbling relegation
To Quasimodo–like insignificance …
and so to await and begrudge Phoebus' eventual glory.

Yearning for the morrow
when I shall pirouette upon my grave,
After the dark night of the soul should pass away,
As yet the present silhouette of twilight hope must fade to grey
My mind over the heart valiantly held sway.

As friends we are together
and forever we are friends apart,
Beauty has not returned
though the enchanted rose has shed its last
Gracefully in ethereal confinement the final petal fell
Alas! Reflections of finding freedom
that soon would break the spell.

Love is not given in small, homogenous packets,
Equally distributed to all in a mass market,
Unfair, though it seems – this partiality of affection...

To forget you is utter futility,
Nor could broken armour conceal vulnerability,
Till that fateful day I await lest freedom be forfeit,
Of your happy acquaintance with worthy Phoebus
Or my distant discovery of illusive Agnes,
Only then would my release be truly complete.

Reaching out my heart is convicted,
To make amends for callous wounds inflicted
Upon someone precious, tender and with grace replete;
Strangely warmed, I could now understand
Surely, the mark of a genuine friend
To draw near, hurt but not retreat.

In the vast expanse of uncertainty looming before us,
Our paths would diverge like sad drama unrehearsed,
But no such parting do I foresee, at least in the heart,
May we fulfill His divine destiny and not falter,
In warm memories, each other to remember
As friends together and ever friends apart

(Jars of Clay fans wud readily note the heavy borrowing from their lyrics as well as the analogies with Disney cartoons like Beauty and the Beast and Hunchback of Notre Dame and Dickens' David Copperfield)

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