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La Vita Sobria, Page 2

Ardina Webb

never leave you to the cruel fates.

  My pledge.

  Like the green of the grass beneath my feet,

  Or the warming caress of the sun.

  Like mother duck in a fret,

  Or the laughter caused by a pun.

  My hope.

  The blue waves lap against the skeleton coast,

  The dry sand giving way to lush forest.

  This is a land to boast,

  Come to seek the rest.

  My joy.

  Sit beneath the stretching sky,

  Colours of fire.

  Reflect the passionate cry,

  Yet none of the ire.

  My dream.

  I'll sit and wait for that time,

  For now staring at the window.

  Work and bide my time,

  I'll leave the land of the widow.

  My ambition.

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  Good Things

  Why do all good things come to an end?

  I was sitting and watching the night fly by when I thought about all the wonders there were to experience. I was thinking what a wonderful thing it was to be human as that star fell from the sky. The way it created a heavenly arc and fell down in flaming glory. Maybe that is how we should all live our lives. In flaming glory.

  Why do all good things come to an end?

  I tried so hard, sitting on that wooden bench, to think of another way. I argued that life was for the optimist and not the pessimist. The sky was once more the colour of pitch and I was left alone without a light. My hope had been snuffed out very much like the light.

  Why do all good things come to an end?

  The door slammed behind me when I reached the place known as home. The music played in my ears and I felt a sense of peace all of a sudden. I hated it when the blackness dragged me down with its filthy claws embedded in weakened flesh. I had been wallowing with the blackness for far too long.

  Why do all good things come to an end?

  But, the same question still plagued my mind no matter what resolutions I made. Why did they? At first I always thought that I had been the poor lover; the one always demanding more. Perhaps, I was the friend who expected too much?

  Why do all good things come to an end?

  I took no notice of my pet as he sought my attention. I automatically went along with the domestic tasks required of me. I remember the next reasoning in my head, how I had been the victim. That my lover had used me and the friend had abused me.

  Why do all good things come to an end?

  I sat on my bed with the moon and stars covering my quilt. I can never deny the saying, "You don't know what you have until it's gone," because I felt it when it left me; trust in me. Now, I dream every now and then that he'll come back to me and she'll say sorry to me. I think it's what the shrink called, “Denial.”

  Why do all good things come to an end?

  The feelings, we as humans, are blessed with can be a trial. I never understood this cold land of milk and honey. I lived for each breathing moment as if it were my last; they all live for the planned future. Control and calm is something I find hard to acquire.

  Why do all good things come to an end?

  The stars I admire also end and begin again, I guess, there only difference is how long they take to expire. Spheres of fire; maybe they are as passionate as I. Surrounded by the cold that contrasts so sharply with their nature. Things end and there is no denying it. Those "things" break hearts. Life is just a learning curve.

  All good things come to an end.

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  Rain

  The Sky was stormy.

  The Earth shook.

  Drop

  The first tear fell upon parched Earth.

  The Heavens opened.

  The muddy puddle became a stream.

  Rush

  Swirling, frothing. water spread,

  Filled the mug of the thirsty wilderness.

  The last of the magic fell upon revived leaves.

  Patter

  The Breeze returned too.

  Laden with warmth and soil,

  To bring forth the golden Mistress of the Land.

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  No.

  Come and take me that extra mile,

  Push and never look back.

  Come and show me the world isn't vile,

  Push and never take your love back.

  Lithium to play on my senses,

  Valium to staunch the bleeding.

  I would do it all for another of your kisses,

  Even if they tell me I am unneeding.

  Give and pull me back from that angered abyss,

  Pull and never let go.

  Give and I will forgive all on a single kiss,

  Pull and never tell me no.

  Gallium to silence my demons,

  Myrrh to accompany my silent departure.

  I answered all your summons,

  And experienced little of the rapture.

  Remember and sigh at the thought of me,

  Reason and fail.

  Remember and regret at the thought of me,

  Reason and wail.

  Lanthanum for the obscurity of your vision,

  Iridium for your unseen actions.

  Your freedom is an illusion of mine,

  Even you know my memory chains part of you.

  Regret and think of what conspired,

  Kiss and tell me.

  Regret and taste the bitterness left behind.

  Kiss and tell me.

  Lead for the weight of your heart,

  Mercury for the blood in your shallow veins.

  You would never find another like me,

  Even if you told me I am nothing.

  Try and take solace in the Others,

  Blame and hate me.

  Try and show the love you denied another,

  Blame me and martyr yourself.

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  Out, Out!

  Cold and damp to the touch.

  The heartbeat pounds in your ears.

  The feeling of inevitability rises.

  But inevitability of what?

  Up, down, left or right,

  Perhaps the wall behind.

  Every pore of your skin screams,

  But the unearthly stillness silences you.

  Saturated in fear,

  Scarlet,

  Crescent marks deep in the palm of your hand.

  The feeling is irrelevant to progress.

  But, you are afraid.

  The blood rushes around the body with chaotic rhythm.

  It is the time to move,

  To run.

  Run where?

  Into the snare?

  You feel more than afraid,

  And worst of all, they know it.

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  The Ballad of Andromeda

  Two stars lit the velvet night,

  Each of which shone like thee.

  Twice I saw the burning might,

  Thrice I longed for thee.

  If life is all chance,

  Then pass the die for Minerva has blessed me.

  If cupid's arrow be the lance,

  Then tell the lie for an Angel kissed me.

  Thou cursed a starved fool,

  I could let you love no other.

  Marked with Heavens tool,

  I could never find another.

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  The Devil's Affluence

  I remember the winter by the sea,

  That winter will last forever across the trails of time.

  When you and I could simply be,

  Far from the now which is nothing, but a tragic mime.

  You remember the promise of eternity,

  How that fated kiss will call to me still,

  Even now, after forever.

  Like the melting flakes of powdered snow,

  That blessed winter washed into the heat of summer.

  But
, rather the summer of heated hate.

  Ironic that the summer would coat your tones in bitter frost,

  That the warmth would chill your heart.

  Our love became a ghastly ghost,

  Torn, whipped; how the Devil knew his art.

  What the Devil conspired,

  It was mercilessly filled with gluttonous pride.

  A mortal wound is nothing compared to the devices he hired.

  Those words that pierced my soul,

  The look after the act.

  How they all took their own toll.

  And you with your blessed pact.

  As we stand here again,

  Amidst the flames of a desolate city of dreams.

  Do you feel the pain,

  Those lacerating whips of lashing reams,

  Even in the thrill of a second kiss,

  But what else, could have equaled the bliss?

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  The Flag

  The red was for the father's blood,

  The pain and struggle of years before.

  With more venom than a Cobra with hood,

  It constrained the colonial oppressor.

  The yellow was for the gold,

  The riches and wealth.

  Then, the peoples were warm in times of old.

  Now they forget and scavenge like wild dogs.

  The green was for the harvest,

  The breadbasket of Africa.

  Like a mother, she provided what's best.

  Now, she is barren and hollow with her children amiss.

  The black and the white were for the people

  That they forgot.

  But, at the end we shall all be blind,

  (After all, it is an eye for an eye)

  Only then, then I can embrace you as brother.

  Finally, see the bird that spread its wings,

  The lost guardian.

  Clipped and broken, then abandoned,

  For reasons I cannot understand.

  Now we are all scatterlings of Africa,

  Exiled all over the world.

  But my heart and soul was left beneath the Baobab,

  With only stories and memories to keep me amongst the living.

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  Remember the metaphor I shared with you: "A Heart of Ice"

  ~ A million fragments of bloodied humanity

  When did the day become a war not to see your face?

  When did the childish enthusiasm wane?

  Last summer was, was different,

  Then the laughter accompanied the sane.

  Two woes that became my foes:

  (To you my foreign reader)

  The former I may just comprehend,

  The later I can't comprehend…

  …A whole in my heart; in more ways than one.

  My friend of not so long ago,

  You disappointed me.

  You didn't trust me.

  My friend; you let go.

  Her loss doesn't pain me,

  Terrible. Indeed, the thought is.

  Then again, I was lost in another trifle.

  Heavens! If I could do it all differently,

  (Yes. I'd gladly walk in the rain again)

  Maybe he'd care for me like I, childishly & foolishly,