As it turned out…
.
after ripping
off the blinders,
and cursing his fears,
a potentially significant
HuMAN
forged out fearless
into the world system,
beguiled each day by an
existential notion
that (because
his gifts and
ambitions
were better than most)
he was destined to succeed
.
bravely he sought
what he thought would
bring him security, what he
thought would enrich humanity,
and what he was convinced would
allow his singularity to burgeon
.
but the
daily battle
ate away at his
disciplines, cynicism
crept in, and then
finagling and
gossiping
became as natural
for him as breathing…
.
one season, during
a lengthy depression,
(when all those nearest
him seemed a wraithlike
clutter of flickering images)
he started listening to
the shadow-voices
cajoling him
about
what a soul
must give up to
win the power-wings
of an everlasting success…
.
not having
any keener offers,
he forfeited himself
to the doctrine of voices
where (unbeknownst to him)
fouled fountainheads,
riddled with undying oath,
were yoked upon dread millstones,
and etched with cankered plague….
.
But why should he care…
.
fully emboldened,
he unfurled
his ambitions to
fly as high as he could…
And up he went, higher than
most, aglow with Icarian ideals,
soaring on strong unbroken wings,
amazed at how it felt,
and how the
originality flowed (at first)
and how what appeared as an
across the board acceptance
(from what he found out
later were only
sycophants
and louche
manipulators)
eventually forced him
into regular binges of
boozing and doping
and the shallow
fellowship's
that finally gave rise
to hordes of human vultures
circling his life, seeking to pilfer
what they wanted for themselves
.
Slowly, the man’s life unraveled…
.
and being desperate now
to remain on the vanguard,
he began giving in to all
dubious compulsions,
and after
becoming lax in
all ways, and having
been released from all
inhibition, a once vibrant
man began
a slow descent
down a dark hole,
laughing, clueless, and fully
subjugated to those of like disease,
.
never once
did he imagine
that obeying the voices
would result in a grave lessening
of all that was good in him-
this once
robustly gifted human
(acceding to the dark forces of
booze, blow, witchery, and turpitude)
ended up being snubbed by the very ones
who had once preened ambitions wings,
and coaxed hubris with false flattery…
.
with increasing momentum
he plummeted
down
without
ever once
believing that
he’d sold his soul,
or traded his freedom
for chains, or that all of his
shameful choices would end
up making him the brunt
of chin-wagging and
gossip from
those of
similar affliction.
But more importantly, that
he’d become a living example to
the dedicated, intelligent, and disciplined,
about how blundering, sin, and foolish choices can
take one’s original innocence, and originality, and turn
it into something unnatural, distorted, and uninspiring…
.
“Pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up.” Ecc 4: 10 b

© richard lloyd cederberg
8/2021
.
The Portrayal Series: Poetiprose insights concerning family and friends. These pieces will also address some of the actors, artists, musicians, and writers I worked with in college, or professionally, (in my 20’s - 40’s) all of which were influential (in one way or another) in shaping the man I am today.
.
                Between the Cracks - A Monumental Journey Series