The Blameless Man

[J Hillenburg]

The Blameless Man


I can’t believe things ended this way for you
wounding both your heart and your pride.
I won’t cast blame for what you had to do
to make all the ends neatly meet and provide.
There were choices you had to make that day,
and you made each one resolute and stern.
And then I watched as you slowly drifted away
with no promise that you would ever return.

I can’t understand how forces conspired so
to rob you of opportunities you deserved.
I have appraised you of my heart, all I know
of those sacraments I once failed to preserve.
There have been moments indecisive and rife
with the uncertainties of youth and disease.
I pray you overcome these trials of grim strife,
those death-like needs you will never please.

Do you dream at all now, wanderer, and where
do you find your rest on these hostile streets?
You talk of plans unrealized wholly unprepared
to acknowledge your role in your endless defeats.
I lie awake now wracked by a ferocious pain
as I watch you surrender to that liquid storm.
You aspire to nothing, so very little remains
beyond these destructive tasks you now perform.