The grass slides by – a rushing blur;
I’m running from what lies behind
But nothing’s really chasing me.
The wheels are spinning like my thoughts,
They’re wearing down my mind and strength
Each time I try to find an end.
This constant confusion and loss
Has grown as my shadow follows;
I watch as the sun goes to grey.
Tomorrow perhaps the new light
Will find me still searching the earth;
Eventually though I’ll be gone.
11.2.19
This road keeps on through day and night,
Further now from habits formed,
The vehicle that carries me
Brings me closer to my harm.
I know that as these wheels turn more
The pain I must endure nears.
This is the only way to form
New strength against my in-bred fears.
As questions form about the task
And fears return to whisper doubts,
I force myself to trust to fate
That from comfort drew me out.
This road keeps on and I with it,
Growing better day by day;
Though at this point I’m fighting still,
I look with longing down the way.
11.1.19
Each path I take throughout this life
Is gilded thick with thorns of strife.
They tear, they shred, they scratch at me,
They rip my flesh, my blood runs free.
Each path grows higher where I walk:
My blood dries thick and covers up
The crusted mess of those before;
Each drop adding, slowly, more.
Each path is slick with human slime,
The thorns are all I have to climb;
Though striving is a painful tread,
To stop my crawl would leave me dead.
Each path leads on, I know not where,
The effort all-consumes my care,
My straining mind directs each step;
My straining will is barely left.
Each path through never-ending grey,
Is intertwined in mass array;
As though the coiled muscles tight
Across my frame: a twisted blight.
Each path has left my body worse,
Behold me now: a living corpse.
I wish to rest, but can’t escape
These paths which I forever scrape.
04.11.19
Glowing moon floats gently high,
Stillness fills the cooling sky,
Silence grips the shifting breeze,
Softly now; you’ll wake the trees.
Steal along with ne’er a sound,
Treading light upon the ground.
Else the shadows will come near;
Thirsty for the taste of fear.
Darkness creeps, just out of sight,
The moon provides a dwindling light.
Snap of twig and creak of stalk,
Betray the spirits subtle walk.
Misty noises float about,
Mired in the thick of doubt.
Is that scraping really there,
Muddied by the thinning air?
Don’t look back, don’t try to run;
Deeply breathe, and feel night’s yawn:
Wind that stirs beneath the boughs,
Bringing hints of lurid growls.
09.18.19
When Night upon the grass doth sit and chill
The earth with thoughts of grief and frozen death,
When ghosts come forth to haunt and make to kill
The joy we had with sharp and frozen breath.
All roads run straight before unto the end.
For down the paths below our mortal dust
All hope is torn and none shall mend,
For living, none can come below the crust.
Shall mem’ry pass and love of you forget?
As age and war the Halls of Mandos feed.
Shall time move on as if we’d never met?
As shades, we toss and break as withered reed.
But lo! This fleeting fear of mine is vain!
For sure as spring, the King must come again.
03.23.17
Meetings, greetings, follow me,
Upward, downward, soon you’ll see
Worlds below with dark untouched;
Skies above, their laughter rushed.
Each of us must find a way,
Onward, backward, course to stay.
Some escape and lose their mind,
Others, peace, in journeys find.
Creature simple, complex soul,
Inward, outward, come up whole.
Search the paths you know so well,
Question, answer, ponder, dwell.
7.19.19
When parting ways as we must do,
My heart does break for leaving you.
As life flows on, and we are caught
In currents strong, I have the thought:
That though we seek to fight the tide,
Perhaps it’s best, the swell to ride.
It’s all in vain to force our way,
For fate will have the final say.
And though it seems that we are lost,
Forever parted, torn, and tossed,
There is a hope for you and me,
For fate to change, and peace to be.
02.23.18
I search among the shadows great,
But I am all too filled with hate
To see beyond the striking black.
This path of doom, this lonely fate,
Is filled with those of rot and wrack,
And with them now I take this track.
I only wish to see some light,
But finding none to left or right
I stumble on through slimy air.
So long ago I lost my fight
All thought or any shred of care
Has left me now, alone and bare.
This pain I feel, the grief of loss,
Has caused my inner thoughts to toss,
And in my heaviness and shame
I realize that this weighty cross
Is greater than my weakened frame.
Someone else must take my blame.
12.14.18
Nathaniel West Clark 