November 16, 2019Poem

With a nod to Blake.

lossmusictimeidentitymortality

With a nod to Blake.

Every line is a truth

To someone

Versions of meaning

Block any access

To the genesis

Of my belief

Life is a thief

Stealing, as it does

The promise

Of something other

Than disappointment

Keeping it imprisoned

Behind a fire door

With a turn-key

On the wrong side

As time bleeds away

Through one way

Valves in the floor

To feed the inferno

Burning below

The vacuum it creates

Is replaced

With a quest for redemption

A convenient disguise

For the trope

Of a lost cause

Agnostic doubt

Needs altruistism

To sustain the hope

Of a happy ending

For the wholesome creed

Of conformity

To succeed

There will always be

The reformulation

Of innocent truths

As torch-songs

Of religious experience