FISH AND SNAKES

It seems, at times like these,

Gladness has flattened patterns

And nothing rises to please,

Only sadness fattens.

Silence blanks out all noise -

It's impossible to hear

Waves slapping against buoys

As I walk the pier.

My eyes are blind to all that's bright -

Sunsets are grey, sprayed

Darker than moonless night,

Stars, jaded, fade.

Life reeks like discarded flowers,

Rancid and rank in hot sun,

No more sweet fragrant showers,

Now foul like death begun.

Once all I asked for was fish,

And you gave me only snakes,

Coiled up in a porcelain dish,

To strike at my mistakes.

Thus poisoned, the throb that splits

My brow, blow by bloody blow,

And my heart breaking to bits,

Are all that I can know.