At once I saw the sky was gray,
the summer sun had gone away.
Pummeled by each heated ray
my sweat grew wings and flew away.
I lay down on the sands of time;
as hope spilled out with every crime.
Famished, parched, I strained out slime
for substance, liquid, one thin dime.
The thunder shook my very head,
reminding me I was not dead;
for death won't hold this bitter dread,
but silence, maybe rest instead.
Away from me, my eyes could see
the fires burning constantly;
Acrid smoke fell on each tree
as I lay waiting, patiently.
One more inch to crawl today
as summer skies just fade to gray;
this life of lies took me away
I wait, I watch, I see decay.
By firelight I watch Rome burn;
its ashes gather for the urn
still her children never turn,
the things they love, the things they spurn.
One more inch to crawl today,
it's me to blame, or so they say;
it doesn't matter anyway
as all I do just fades away.
Author notes
and I'm running behind.
A contest entry
- Running On Empty by Touchof1der.
600 points, ended August 27, 2008, 15 entries
Silver trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
-
I love where you took this. Excellent work! Best of luck to you in the contest. I appreciate your taking the time and making the effort to enter. I hope it proved to be an enjoyable experience and challenge for you.
♥ Touchof1der -
Nice write, it kept my attention well. Very intense. Good luck in the contest.
Dena -
Aside from the shifting syllable counts, I liked this. It had the tone of epic and held my attention throughout. I thought you did a good job of rhyming this--other than the "dime", it never came across as forced. You took the prompt to an interesting place. Well done!
~woof *dog
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