Original poetry

-----------------------------

Take this cup
away from me
many have said
yet have drunk

They had no choice

Tchaikovsky was handed his cholera
as was Socrates his hemlock
and invited in

There are worse things, I suppose

Some only kill the soul
did Rimbeau ever wonder
I wonder
about wondering again

And what happens the day after?

The week?
The month?
The year?

A life that won't be lived.

Someone else's life, I suppose

Who can live a life
that isn't there any longer?

Who wants to stay and watch?

One begins to die at birth
but at a certain point, it picks up speed.


There are no elegant words
when one makes mistakes that last
a lifetime

No poetry can make up for it
No apologies

Pandora's box is truly empty
moldy, about to be auctioned
for others to stick in their pencils
and matches
and paper clips

Never knowing the priceless treasure
that once was resident
now evicted
fled to more desolate places

Who wants to stay and watch?




A Chorus of Voices, a book of original poetry by Fr. Kurt Messick, will be available Spring 2003.