Last Decade

My legs carry me down this sparkling path,

Frost shows me the only way home,

An annual event, I await with glee,

To shiver and stumble on tarmac and mud,

Straining the eyes to focus on the ground,

Watching for potholes of the not too distant future.

Darkness behind me, darkness in front,

A bleak diary of the past and future,

Where nothing should be certain, but it’s all decided,

As predictable as the next election.

It’s been a decade of attrition, in wars and love,

Of working days expelling the soul,

And a frightened teenager meeting destiny,

Only to find it turning away in shame,

And uttering sighs and stifled laughter.

I’m left nearing home, a stone’s throw away,

Looking up at the menacing blue moon,

Aware that the countdown is soon,

Aware that a new year is ready to pounce,

To beat me brutally into submission.

Not only a new year, but a new decade,

But it’s all the same, in this failed state,

As people around me count down in unison,

While I prepare for another year,

That will end once again with a cold walk home,

Not wearing my heart on my uniform’s sleeve,

But all I desire is a New Year’s reprieve.

© menshallknownothingofthis.co.uk 31.12.2009