the quiet whispers aroused a gnawing doubt
that was insidious, surreptitious and incessant
and spoke to him well above a timid shout
that said verbal power lay in being conversant
with what the heart is and just how brittle it is
when callous heartbreakers are abroad at ease
he pleaded himself vanquished and broken
and said he needed no eleventh hour token
to tease a compliant smile out of the shreds
of self-belief that *****-nilly everyone sheds
when belittled by the mule kicks of misfortune
from belated action when no longer opportune
thus he told his heart to be still and his mind to rest
life and experience had shown him what was best
when the world became a bitter and mazy wilderness
and that, in truth, was his unending epiphany, with
naked truths and outright lies in the dusk that had to come