...this 'thing', scribbled impulsively this morning in the wee hours and posted hastily on an inappropriate DB, nevertheless served as the catalyst (through Fencer's good grace) which precipitated our new creative outlet here. Which means perhaps it was worth something after all. lol

I heartily encourage the posting of original works, whether from the rank novice, the polished professional or the non-serious amateur. Who knows what posterity will say! Let's have fun.

STRANDED
by yours truly

Stranded in this Universe
Could be better, but how worse?
Why did mother give me nurse?
Such a curse, such a curse

Stranded on this desert Earth
Wretched, foul, untimely birth!
Where’s the laughter, where’s the mirth?
Worthless sham, for what it’s worth

Stranded in this withered Land
Damn the rainbow, damn the Hand
That first helped this bleak soul to stand
First undone and then un-manned

Stranded on this strangled Shore
Neptune gloats, then shrieks for more
How I abhor, o how abhor
This sunken world with no back-door

Stranded in this barren Home
Read the transcript, scan the tome!
Wherein the shameless gods do roam
And spit their drool like febrile foam

Stranded in this hell of Hells
Curse the split-tongued wedding-bells!
Curse the rivers, curse the dells
And bless the caverns, bless the wells

Stranded in this darkling Space
Where to find a human face
In this ill-begotten Race?
Full of mischief, void of grace

Stranded on this wasted Waste
Made in haste, yes made in haste!
How I pine for just a taste
Of something sacred, someone chaste

Stranded in this tortured Mind
Hoping, ‘gainst all hope, to find
Just one cloud that’s silver-lined
Just one touch not cruel but kind

Stranded in this woeful Fate
Unquenched hunger is my Mate
Sick of smiles that come too late
Sick of ‘kindness’ laced with hate

Stranded in this lifeless Life
I raise the blade, I clutch the knife
For all’s against me, all is strife
And Pain’s my sister, Death my wife

Stranded on this gulf Alone
It chills the marrow in the bone
How can God in truth atone
For every slight and every groan?


P.S. I'm not ALWAYS this dark! (gulp)

P.P.S. Oh yes, discerning critics welcome too! (but I beg of you, have mercy....) :o)