ALL IN THIS ALONE

ALL IN THIS ALONE

Let us pause and tear a page,
From this strange computer age.
You may have tons of cyber friends,
But how many are for real?
How many look into your soul
And feel the pain you feel?

How many of them would die for you
Or lay a lone rose on your tomb?
How many are there to comfort you,
To hold your hand in your hour of doom?
To brace your fall, to return your last call?
How many cyber friends’ photos
Do you proudly hang upon your wall?

All which begs the question,
Set in granite, fading in sun,
Are we really passing fancies,
When all is said and done?
Are we traveling under the illusion
That cyberspace and its minions care?
Cyber friends with open arms
At the top of the golden stair?

Are we fooling our gullible hearts
There’s life beyond our own frail skin.
The flesh that hangs to the hardy bone,
Sinking fast like a jagged stone
And snagged somewhere, aching and sore,
Where we walk defeated, breathe no more.

Let us pause and tear a page, from this strange computer age.
A million readers may follow your blog,
You may be king of cyberspace.
Though I can muster only half a dozen
To read the tripe I write.
Yet how many souls would you need to touch
To fill up your sad and lonely cup?

Forgive my bitter ravings,
Forgive my cynicism.
Forgive my madman ramblings, ignore my self-derision.
I am made of lonesome, fragile, unforgiving stuff,
I dream and I dream but it’s never enough.
My tears can fall like jagged hail,
No matter what I do I fail.

All which begs the question,
Set in granite, carved in sand,
How will I fill the rest of this empty life,
A fragile shell of man.
The more I reach, the more I fall,
And like the belly of the asp,
That crawls across the desert floor,
My reach exceeds my noble grasp.
I slither toward the finish line
With the flourish of a gasp.
A gasp and a half for the legions of sins
For which I must atone,
A tired world’s lost and passing fancy,
All in this alone.

-Bruce Potts
Copyright 2011
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Refill that Zoloft prescription!