A Long History


No hope.
  No dignity.
     No peace of mind.
        Not even the slightest illusion of them.

              We are left here,
                                        forgotten,
                                             abandoned,
                                                forlorn,
                                                living on the noxious fumes
                                                                   of a forgotten glory,
                                                                             a long-gone fame,
                                                mesmerized
                                                       by the tantric hum
                                                                 of the many memories 
                                                                                  bustling through
                                                                                      our junkyard brains,
                                                  inhaling
                                                      the grief-laden air
                                                                      of a long,
                                                                          too long,
                                                                                    history.

No.
Not every end signals a new beginning.

February 1997