so you've graduated high school
you got into that university you wanted
or maybe the one you didn't
still,
you're going somewhere in the fall
then you'll live the easy life for four or so years
gain some weight
lose it
change your fashion sense
discover who you are
all the while
you'll be doing dumb ****
making friends
losing friends
and even learning a few things along the way
then you graduate again
hooray for you
what's next?
a job?
a year of looking?
you could always go back for your masters
you know with the dilution of a BA/BS degree today
you'll probably need it
if you don't want to flip burgers
so now it's been 6 or 7 years
just in higher education
more like a decade
if you pursue that pesky PHD
so you can make the big bucks
then what?
pick up a nice girl somewhere
you'll both grow together
fall in what you think is love
compromise after compromise
for some romantic ideal
which you chase but never catch fully
maybe the poor broad
will churn out a couple of kids for you
a son to carry on your name
a daughter to protect
and they become teenagers
and you're old now
you don't understand them
and they resent you
and all of those dollars
you worked so hard for
disappear
like there's a hole in your back pocket
and then the kids go to college
just like you did
and you and the missus have to fight
to act like you aren't dead in the water
and then one morning
you wake up
your skin hangs off of you
in all the wrong places
it looks like you are wearing a costume
which doesn't fit
and you get winded walking up the stairs
to your study
where you sit and drink the night away
before you crawl back in bed with the shack job
where even the slightest touch
is no longer tantalizing,
but irritating
you wake up and realize
you did everything expected of you
you wake up and realize
you did it all wrong

When the black dog appears
On a starless full moon night
A shadow of blackness
Turn your hands to ice
Grip tightly your soul
Prepare for the judgment of man

These beings tied together as one
Upon whom was wrought great harm
They will speak with truth
What is right
What is wrong
The darkness bottomless depths
Love and purity of the light
The penance if any should be allowed

Possessing strength of the righteous these ghosts
Whose once warm hearts have turned to stone
The very ones you lay in the ground
Who have been quiet and still
Without a sound
And those earth bound spirits
With life in their veins

This shall be the court you will face
Here recount your actions and disgrace
Some will ask for mercy and pity
While others insist upon your death
But as sure as I am living and draw breath
They will condemn your soul
For  evil deeds
The  rain of blood tears
Planting of hate’s seeds

Perhaps it will be many
Or just a few years
But do not doubt it
Amid the rain of blood tears
On a starless night
The black dog will appear




This poem is copyrighted and stored in author base.  All material subject to Copyright Infringement laws
Section 512(c)(3) of the U.S. Copyright
Act, 17 U.S.C. S512(c)(3),
Tammy M Darby