My dreadful friend

My dreadful friend

Remember when I was but a little thing? Brittle, as old bones wrapped in feeble skin
Delicate as a bubble dancing on a nimble breeze, soft and slight, fragile as a silken weave.

You wanted to take me away with you, on a journey to a place beyond mortal view
A place where time translates to endlessness and life demised to nothingness  

But that was all you could offer me
Mere darkness and obscurity
While left with things that could have been
And things that mayhap should have been…

 

Remember when I was a little older? And frailty gave way to something bolder
Stronger in mind, yet not quite in figure, still a slug of lead at the mercy of a trigger

Come away with me you asked again, and I was loathe to refuse you then
But there was much yet left undone; I couldn’t leave before my web was spun

So once again I denied your plea
And against your will you let me be
Angelic scheme, or providence
Deprived your plot of sustenance…

 

Remember when I was a vigorous man? Impeccable as Leonardo’s diagram
Sturdier in spirit as well as frame, perhaps strong enough to rig your game

You lingered, waited for your wish to be granted, but in stronger soil this weed was now planted
Yet relent you would not, you’d bide your time, to perpetrate your votive crime

We grew apart in the years gone by
Not close as before, were you and I
I sensed you though, mere breath away
Relentless, phantom attaché…

 

Remember that old man of just the other day? His feelings and thoughts were in such disarray
He wondered if he would deny you once more; His case to refuse you not strong as before

So I watched as he watched me, and I knew what he thought. That this was not nearly the outcome he sought
He looked so forlorn as I shaved at his face, I winced at that image in the upside down place

And so I concede to the offer you made
I hope it’s not costly, I’ve little to trade
But should you oblige and your hand doth extend
I’d follow you willingly…
My dreadful friend