The Ceaseless Distance

[J Hillenburg]

The Ceaseless Distance

You traveled a ceaseless distance in search of an oblivion
that would satisfy your desire to exact all relevant costs.
You swore there were so many things you’d never do again,
but yet you did, and came to rue all the talents you had lost.
You attempted to maneuver in a land where the limits set
were encumbering to any sense of potential you possessed.
You displayed inappropriate moments of passion and regret,
alternating wildly between moods removed and obsessed.

You kept watch over a city that knew neither day nor night
but rather a netherworld that compromised every held belief.
You mingled with gossipers and liars who robbed your sight,
and whispered countless words in your ear of hollow relief.
You found no imitations of immortality on the printed page,
and no ladies waited for you any longer in the summer’s day.
You found countless varieties of sorrow to needlessly engage,
and find still yet a multitude of loves to repeatedly betray.

You stood for no particular value that could be maintained
for any time in the face of such withering self-contempt.
You played the part of the victim in a drama unrestrained
by any sense of what to be truly a man really meant.
You cannot endure in this fashion, something’s got to give,
I advise you now to seek out some restitution for the past.
You will struggle, I know, there is much you cannot forgive,
and there are so many questions you are afraid to ask.

[J Hillenburg]

Sorry for the first version of this work that was posted here.
The proof reading I did was done rather quickly. The version here now contains no errors.