Do Not Try to Save Me

My body, scalded by fiery tears

fights to stand upright.

A fountain of pain spouts forth

Pain passed down …

from father to son,

from son to daughter,

to me.

My father could not be a man.

My brother faltered in his step.

Why did he have to die so young?

You were beautiful once,

before the storm.

Now there is no one left to cry.

My mother tried to save me,

but she could not.

Feasting on broken promises

I withered away.

Carried into the future

upon a violent dust storm.

We walked away from hope

We walked away from faith.

There was nowhere to turn.

If I could write my dreams down,

they would touch the sky.

Life has made a mockery of me.

Time limps along in synchronized rhythm.

I walk among the lonely,

I swim against the tide,

eating crumbs left behind by sin.

I am a border without a country.

I am an empty plate.

Time ticks away on a clock without a face.

I asked him not to let go of me,

but now I must repent.

Old-age has taken all that I once was.

Do not try to save me.