The Poetry Marathon

The night drags on
and still I sit here
Alone in my room
with just my pen with me
These are the nights
to be remembered fondly
Where a task was given
and was then completed
I have stood against the night
and I have claimed victory

You are not deserving of an origin story
and you will not be remembered
I know the deeds of your hands
they can never be truly cleaned
You are the monster here
I will send you back to Hell

These words you speak are empty
you and I both know this
Do not judge what you do not know
for what I did, I for you alone
I am the monster you created
In Hell I was formed and in Hell I will die

You are the asshole here
you have brought this chaos here
I am the one with integrity
yet see how you have deluded yourself
You are a cancer that must be excised
I will redeem this house

This game of yours grows old
yet you refuse to evolve
You lack the proof for your claims
your claim of honor is a lie
I am the evil that you needed
I will be the memory you cannot forget

See the dawn break
and know that Night lied
This is the lie that she tells
she whispers it every night
Night needs you to believe
that she has conquered the sun
But each morning it rises
as proof that Night has not yet won

Here will mark my end
for I cannot keep going
my feet are far too weary
and my bones feel worn

I cannot continue on
for I have failed my quest
and my journey is meaningless
it is here that my resolve fails

To continue would be folly
you do not know what you ask
I have nothing left to offer
surely there are others better suited

So then let me return
that I may again raise my sword
let my feet be immovable
this time I will not fail

I desire to sue for peace
but the war in my head goes on
for another hour, or day, or month, or year
until my mind has been raised to the ground
and devastation is all that is left

When I was in elementary school they told us
to shoot for the moon and you will land among the stars
what I heard was that I should expect to fail
And so it was confusing to me when my mother got angry
with me for failing to get the grades she set as the benchmark

And so I was torn between these competing ideas
that I was expected to perform and deliver on a high level
but that I was to assume failure and reset expectations
The longer I was caught between this hard place
the more I allowed that confusion to turn the anger inward

What had once felt like being caught by a rock
would eventually become my crucible made my own hands
determined to burn away all impurities
But what was eventually removed from this fire
was not purified metal but the charred remains of a child’s psyche

The greatest journey
is not where you find yourself
but your life’s purpose

This is the night without
end this obsession with the
day does not evoke the same
lust after a world that is limitless

Choose to give yourself to the
night without day is your greatest
desire to reject all those who will not
surrender yourself to the night willingly

Stare into the void
and find what stares back

See into your soul
to learn what you are made of

Search the recess of your mind
to find whatever may be left

Notice the way he walks
and watch how he does not divert
neither to the right hand or to the left
See the rigidity in how he stays on this path
for this is what he was told was wise

Yet he has not considered
if this path of his is the correct one
and if it will get him where he means to go
I wonder the value of his dogmatic adherence
if his destination is not the one he chose

He must be aware of the probability
that though his commitment is firm
it is his initial heading that will fail him
He must reconcile the likelihood
that other paths do exist for a reason

There must come a moment
when he hesitates in taking the next step
and logic dictates he at least examine his options
He will truly be forced to choose
to display discernment or abandon wisdom

Following the path of his ancestors
for no other reason but that they did it too
Is not the decision of Solomon but of a fool
Still if he desires to walk with integrity
let him choose his path for its own merit