9. One of the Walking Dead

The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins? Edgar Allan Poe

If I don’t feel the warmth of the sun

On a sunshiny day,

If I'm too numb to feel

My feet on the ground,

Even when I’m stamping them

Till there's a hole in the soil,

 

What am I but one of the walking dead?

 

Even if I don't see the maggots wriggling

In my muscles and digging holes through my bones,

Still I can't feel the loss

Of the falling skin and the melting marrow,

They are but a mask to camouflage,

A harness of decay, a cape to conceal

 

That I'm but one of the walking dead.

 

Build me inside the wall till I die,

Deprive me the air that makes me walk,

Limping as a crumbling corpse

On the rhythm of my soulless heart,

Then I'll scratch my name with my own blood

On the back side of the bricks of that wall,

Together with a curse that holds me inside forever,

 

Because there's only one black thought

That chews like a raging rodent through my darkened mind,

Because I'm now one of the walking dead,

And it’s burning in my lifeless eyes,

It's the never satisfying hunger for:

 

'Human flesh!' 

 

© Rudi J.P. Lejaeghere

06/02/2016 

 

Author's Note

Reviews

[TheRaven]

Again, one of these pieces where there seems to be more than just the simple description of a decaying corpse. The process of death, is indeed blurred at times. When I'm reading this, I look at the perspective a a 9-5 working man continuously being a cog in the machine of a cubicle job he hates. We'll call him a painter, but he never paints because he's tired all of the time. He chases cash because he was told that's what put a value on life. One day he gets lost within the darkness of the jungle in his cubicle job, and becomes numb. No longer feeling the warmth of the sun, or the motivation to inspire emotion into his own art. What is he but a member of the walking dead? Of course, this could also be a good solid standard zombie piece lol. But, I prefer reading it with the view of societal standards eating away at a man over time.

[Rudi J.P. Lejaeghere]

It is indeed more meant metaphorical than as a zombie piece. Feeling dead, while still alive, it's something many people experience every day, the dull and the numb feeling that makes everything grey. You can even think that 'money', the reason to go on every day is that hunger for 'human flesh'. :) Rudi

[Coyote Poetry]

Amazing description brought to life the dead. The description create a scary place and site. Thank you Rudi for sharing the outstanding poetry and tale.
Coyote

[Rudi J.P. Lejaeghere]

Thank you, John, for reading my writing and commenting on it. :) Rudi

[Coyote Poetry]

You are welcome Rudi.