EMPTY, DARK, FRAGMENTED
how much decay
can systems endure
and yet function?
how much abuse
might a mind absorb
and still not splinter,
fragment, and twist
into a mockery of thought?
it is not enough
to check the box,
to over-line
the listed tasks;
it is not enough
to simply be, to do,
to act, robotic
in a world of dark machines
we seek to reach
beyond that frame,
but every new exit
offers cold metallic slides;
are there circles in this hell
which are not so dull,
which are not so empty
so void and dire?
only elements maintain
as symbol here
divorced from time,
linear causality,
and solid contexts;
the emblems serve
for what had once
been wholly real
no day, no night
no fine congruence
we strive so hard
yet fall away
searching memory
for something liquid
left in the vaults
that we might spend
- Brendan Tripp
03/29/2002
Copyright © 2002 by Brendan Tripp