The Most Bitter of Ironies

A daft, young man perched on the edge
Of tracks; cold steel and dullen gray,
Bereft, but dauntless, on that ledge,
Prostrate as Fate cast Life away.
As Life retired with crimson fire
The irksome tire and stigma stained,
It did succumb to Fate's desire,
A battle lost when Hope was slain.
He leapt across the cautious stripes,
And heard discordant engines growl.
He carved through him his own Last Rites,
And soon pronounced his final bow.
"But what if one could conquer strife?",
He mused through newly-gifted eyes.
Oh, what he'd give for his own life!
But shame; the train had just arrived.

Where We Stand

I, just as you are, am but a fraction of a second in the eyes of Father Time.
I, too, am but a grain of sand slipping through the slender fingers of Mother Earth.

I am but another figure--
A superfluous pawn, if you will--
In this universe so [seemingly] massive.

But what is one more second lost;
Another soul in the blink of His eye?
And one more grain sifted through,
From the billions of Her mere handful?

We are nothing more than a species of primitive, inconsequential beings,
Striving to perfect the superficial lives we lead.

We breathe.
We eat.
We sleep.
And we repeat.

We are contented with our failures.
We are pleased with our attempts.
We are utterly shocked at our successes,
Although few and far between.

The human race has created its very own paradox.
I proceed to fall in line.

This Dream

The axis:
The precise point where our two lives
[Intertwined by chance, or by fate?]
Met.

That point, that moment,
It is the only question that remains.
And I fathom:
Would you be the answer?

Your facile tongue utters a clear reply,
A definitive tone: "Yes".
And I am overwhelmed.
Overcome.
Overjoyed.

A most discordant buzz.
The alarm.
Oh, with what has dreaded Sleep struck me now?

As I enter consciousness--
Bitter. Cold.
What is worse than a nightmare
Than the mind's most horrid, bloody phantasma?

Yet I know--
A dream of that which you yearn for most,
Of all things tangible and otherwise,
But simply cannot attain.

Life is but a dream.
THIS dream.