ABYSS

THE POINT OF NO RETURN

There is a point of no return
A chasm deep within the mind
A place of sweetest silence
A void of no design
We journey all around it
Some will lose and some will win
And some of us aren’t strong enough
And some of us slip in
All of us are conscious
Of this place so black and deep
And most of us have been there
In the peacefulness of sleep
We remembered how it felt
To be unchallenged in the night
And resent the blunt intrusion
Of awareness with the light

Those who have been battered
With the passage of the years
Whose souls are worn and tired
Whose minds are filled with fear
Who have been there in their slumber
Felt the numbing peace of space
Now retreat more often
To that calm and restful place
It holds no fear and calls to them
Familiar and secure
In the warmth of unawareness
They can rest for evermore
They surrender to the whirlpool
Of the waiting void so black
And though they hear you call to them
They never do come back

THE RUT

I try to set my own pace
As I walk along life’s road
To take some time for pleasure
While I labour under load
But the interlude’s not worth it
And when I stop, I find
For every step I’ve taken
I’ve fallen two behind

Then I must take my load again
And shift it into place
Though my shoulders ache, and I am tired
I still must keep the pace
Off to the far horizon
I plod from year to year
Always pressing on
And never getting anywhere

And as the months slip into years
I find the well-worn track
Has bound me to my endless toil
With time I can’t get back
No beauty stops my laboured pace
No laughter fills my heart
The steady circle goes around
No ending and no start

And I wonder as I trudge along
Just how this came to be
And when the road became a rut
And stopped inviting me
And am I destined then to walk
This circle round and round
Until my burden breaks my back
And weighs me to the ground

Then old and tired I shall remain
No better for the quest
A man whose dreams were sacrificed
To finish second best
Whose face is lined with sadness
Who never found his dream
Who shall in time return to dust
As if he’d never been