Balance
I am lost in the city of Austin.
The moon illuminates skyscrapers
As I walk through the slums,
Questioning if it is day
Or night.
In the morning,
A man and Anger dance
In a circle entwined
Till Anger throws the man away.
But Belligerence, Anger,
Pain, and Persistence
Drag that wreck of a man back
To the wreck he started.
Simpleton of low faculty,
He has no capacity
To know what he's done.
The sweet, soft buffoon
Still takes each blow
With a smile.
I call upon a force stronger
But receive a frail old lady.
Now belligerence climbs my back,
Breathes on my neck,
Makes my stature shrink.
The man is gone.
He threatens to bite and claw me,
To beat and maul me.
Her words will not help me,
For I dropped the call.
I must rely on my strength
To get this fiend off.
I twist and turn
To no avail;
He is one with me.
I peel at his fingers;
He bends but does not break.
I strike at him as he mocks me,
Then choke him as he laughs.
He cannot die.
Will not.
Die.
He chooses when to leave:
Laughing,
When you heave in exhaustion
And have not
Even the mighty tongue
To be your justice.
The Sun shows
What a wretch I am
But bathes my sullen self clean
In his light.
He knows nothing outshines him.
Bitterness,
I am Bitterness
As I spit with each step.
I may curse the ground,
But it will curse me back
When it grows flowers.
The stairs increase,
But this is fine.
I need time to think,
Anyway.
The cobblestone steps become a pallet
Of about 5'3".
Sun Tzu would shame me
Had he known I gave up the high ground.
Concern cautions me,
Softens me.
But I needed to,
Had to
Prove to myself that I can
Accept my lowliness
Without killing myself.
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