Great tragedy suffered,
Impossible circumstances conquered,
The warrior walks upon the field flanked path.

The wanderer's armor tells a tale,
Battle scarred and partially rent asunder,
A face of stoicism that hides the haggardness underneath,
Peeking out beneath the mask of a hardened soldier.

The clouds clap ahead, preceded by flashes of light brightly illuminating the world,
Accompanied shortly after by the rainfall.

A trickle becomes a downpour,
The battered individual trudging along as the road becomes a bog of mud and slop,
The message firmly planted within their mind.

Coming upon the dark outline of the castle ahead the warrior picks up pace,
Reflecting upon what would happen to those that the Warrior helped.

The pace is now fueled by a different kind of urgency.

The rain is cold upon the face's of those that it falls on,
The torn edges of metal digging in at places,
Some already wounded and tender,
As the final hilltop between them is crested.

The gates are closed,
And this loyal soldier is for the moment shut out,
A fist is raised,
The declaration of allegiance given,
An angry detailing of the warriors achievements and adventures shouted,
And a challenge of one's path,
Building in anger and fury as the dam finally breaks and gushes forth,
Threatening to shatter the gate and doors to splinters and twisted metal.

A long ago promised gift to be rewarded,
For all the things endured,
Things that could be considered so cruel,
The storm picks up in force until it's akin to that of a hurricane,
As if brought forth by the warrior's grief and pain finally being released,
For the first and only time.

These things ringing out despite the storms roaring wind,
Gathering force,
Perhaps in affirmation of the warrior's words.

After a pause the gate begins to lift,
It's metal screeching,
The doors groaning as they begin to swing outward, and the battered soldier is bathed in light,
Taking the weight from the warrior's shoulders,
As the threshold is finally crossed.

I looked in the mirror
and what did I see
an old wrinkly face
looking back at me

over the past ten years
I've aged quite considerably
my looks aren't as pretty
as they once used to be

the mirror has told me
there is a lot of loose skin
and I have developed
a substantial double chin

my youthful ****** features
have completely disappeared
the signs of haggardness
are even present on my ears

from this day forward
I'll hold no more mirror consultations
as the truth that it expresses
causes much irritation

I loved you when you opened
as I memorized the frowns caressing your face
the color that painted itself onto my body
reflected off your eyes

I loved you when you closed
only wanting me when your liquid colored eyeglasses
were foggy and the night tricked you
blinding your eyes

I loved you when you fell
the drunken haggardness of you turned me on
and the only one who saw your beauty was me
gazing into your eyes

I loved you when you laughed
talking of things that don't exist in this world
the tears that fell from you dropped into my eyes and I saw your life
I saw hell through your eyes

I loved you when you left
laying in a bed of broken sheets and reflections of orange
illuminated your body and I saw what a god could be
burning fire from your eyes

I loved you when you returned
telling me of all the stories that I've heard before
but I listened because I knew that the voices would tell you to reject me
beneath the reality of your eyes

I loved you when you undressed
selfishly touching, touching, touching everywhere you existed
loving the puzzle pieces that molded you
and loved me once in your eyes

I loved you when I felt
felt every stretch of flesh that you allowed
laughing curls of smoke into each other's mouths
smiling at me through your eyes

I loved you when I drank
drank away the phrases you said to remind me
of our forbidden relationship that would never occur
lying to me but betrayed by your eyes

I loved you when I cried
every heart beat tortured and teased, snickering
letting me know that you knew I was ugly for you
hiding it behind your eyes

I loved you when I left
but the voices told you that you were crazy
and you listened
looking away from my eyes

While scrolling over outdated docs
(i.e. namely OpenOffice documents)
derrière seated upon hard backed chair,
yours truly came upon following poem
to share with anonymous readers,
whereby slight modifications
got made to original file.

Until fairly recently,
(no less than a few years ago -
roughly about hundred fortnights ago),
each day lapsed with nothing
(absolute zero) outcome to show
for effort to find an amenable abode
wrought nothing boot
futility, hostility, irritability...
and increased internal disequilibrium
essentially psyche feeling wretchedly awry
me thought for long stretch encompassing
the search perhaps,

hoop fully there would arise salvation
exhibiting courtesy elation
entertaining, leavening, and sprinkling
with gush of happiness
otherwise ill luck inducing me to cry
for I thought for sure,
homeless shelter 'twould be  
our next place housing me
(and missus) against the darkened sky
said cursed fate would moost likely occur
before this generic garden variety
middle aged baby boomer would die.

Methought... only after demise (mine),
would soul alight upon cotton candy cloud
whit will *** churned out
by hum mad ginned mechanism of Eli
ja, an angelic ethereal invisible
masterful quintessential uber lyft app
par rush hen little chicken
shape shifting near transparent
savior donned in transparent radiant alb by
kept watch to ensure sands of time
didst last just long enough
to cease our plaintive lowing sound,
which bellow hide decry.

Akin to a lonesome
cooing, mourning dove
(trying to hawk – prey tell)
immeasurable justice sought well nigh
accessing divine providence,
kickstarting heavenly location
and scouting out twittering
worthy appropriate bird nest sanctuary,
where this long haired pencil neck geek guy
and his missus could breathe easy whereat hie
hoed hue man pang propinquity

for peace of body, mind and spirit to lie
in close quarters, thus my
brief zeptosecond hiatus from posting
prose and poetry today, cuz we did ply
along the one directional infrastructure
to exhale a deep sigh
upon being amazingly gracefully blessed
by fickle finger of fate, after many a try
analogous to seeking employment
or striving to beget offspring,
and I wonder why
such aggravation ensues.

After attaining applicable objective,
one bedroom apartment
(listed on Montgomery County
Pennsylvania low cost housing roster),
a sudden influx of subsequent
kumbaya praiseworthy similar opportunities
materialized, as though
cruel resistant hand of destiny
didst thrive ohm my dog
to send courtesy Volt Tim Mort
current amping thru me.

Just when we thought
oh no, not another rejection,
I could (would) not cope
methought the river of Jordan
ran bone dry with hope
thee manifest destiny
spurred yours truly
going pronto to Vatican to see Pope,
when at the end of our figurative rope,
(ready to gibbet, - viz hitting gallows
a chance – despite noose
sense, nor sensibility)
ah…at long last... lo and behold,
our streak of ill success,
we acquired an  affordable place

rooted, nestled, and huddled
along rolling pastoral intercepting *****
thru effort of applying
to many subsidized housing facilities,
a cessation never more to mope
(unless unfortunately, we get evicted)
this former one class room
per grade school house
long since repurposed
into Highland Manor
nestled in the bucolic greensward
of Schwenksville, Pennsylvania.

Postal Zone Improve Plan re: ZIP code 19473
came about just in the nick of time
when an unexpectedly pleasant call conveyed
via cheerful voice office manager,
(honest to dogness),
I  consider as a divine goddess,
whose positive source prime
news that my application –

set in the mail about a year ago –
(after date original reasonable rhyme written)
inched to the top tier after
a one bedroom apartment became available –
which reasonable cost hoop fully
doth not necessitate spending me last dime,
a prayer that longevity cane outlast
the previous senior citizen,
said former tenant opted
to reside at a nursing home.
*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *
Perhaps because of malfunctioning
duodenum and cerebellum
(just a hunch)
whatever does spur one
to analyze lyrics
Skidamarink a ****, a ****
Skidamarink a doo
I love you...
though to be perfectly tongue in cheek,
aye haint gotta handy dandy clue,
what lines after asterisk mean,
yet nevertheless suspect only *****
like me find themselves in arrears –
and nary a blue
blazing snowball chance in…hell low,
aye pray to dog
while rusty nine inch nails I eschew
that no ***** crisis of this body electric
deters me going to the loo

*** else yours truly *******
sir/ma'am…stumbling along
the boulevard of broken dreams,
maybe joining a motley crue,
or a posse sub bull contra band of thieves
to stay alive as haggardness grew
force to panhandle just enough loose change
to utter a wimpy yahoo
but…if in charitable and philanthropic mood….
well I hate to beg for you
to toss a coin so this rattletrap
can escape Bing caged in the human zoo.