Ugly Days (Poetry)

Another day — another horror
that gradual slide into the pit
the bitter taste of disillusion
no way to ease the pain of it

A stabbing thought — the crush of sorrow
all memory hangs black and blue
a ghastly bruise beyond all healing
life’s ugly maze for crawling through

Hope’s flimsy flags a ragged flutter
chilling breeze that haunts the skin
a beaten rage that stills the stutter
and keeps the smothered words within

The hours drag — the darkness looming
its ghost-filled gap a boundless sea
that has the mind shipwrecked and yearning
for some sweet spell of sanity

Too late, too late — the years long-scrambled
seasons squandered — frittered — lost
now age and sickness have me humbled
raw Winter beckons — bleak with frost

Have I the will — that spark of courage
determining the strength to fight
and face Death’s ever-hungry demon
lurking in forever’s night?

Another dawn — a bright horizon
the mood of yesterday is gone
and possibility’s strange fiction
weaves a tale to goad me on