Requiem for a Fool

My bed is empty.

Empty like my heart,

like the pockets in my coat,

the ones with holes in them.

My house is empty, too.

There is no noise,

just the calcifying veins that

carry hollow ice cubes around

my empty body.

My head is empty.

I can not keep a thought there

before it flies away, unbidden,

stillborn before I see it,

buried in an unmarked grave.

My words are empty.

They have no meaning,

a politician’s words -

like the ‘sorry’ that follows a breakup,

they render me mute.

My life is empty.

Statistics on a resumé page,

lists of people known and places visited,

relationships broken and never healed.

I am empty.

And now I’d like to die.

Reviews

[Midori]

I felt vary depressed when I read this.nice write!

[Christie Moses]

this spills like utter despair in beautiful way onto the page. So painful, I felt it deeply, as I know that feeling well. Existing but not living. A hollow, and sad death of life and love.

[Victoria PoetryBunny]

wow... really deep and nicely written, i love each line so poetic and feeling, wonderful descriptions

[Kat Collins]

So utterly sad and lonely...the emptiness of feeling hollow, scraped out, and despair. You want to die because you're already dead...no point in living. Loved it.

[deeps]

very emotional read, but so well done

[Emily B]

THE FOOL'S PRAYER

by: Edward Rowland Sill (1841-1887)

HE royal feast was done; the King
Sought some new sport to banish care,
And to his jester cried: "Sir Fool,
Kneel now, and make for us a prayer!"

The jester doffed his cap and bells,
And stood the mocking court before;
They could not see the bitter smile
Behind the painted grin he wore.

He bowed his head, and bent his knee
Upon the Monarch's silken stool;
His pleading voice arose: "O Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!

"No pity, Lord, could change the heart
From red with wrong to white as wool;
The rod must heal the sin: but Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!

"'T is not by guilt the onward sweep
Of truth and right, O Lord, we stay;
'T is by our follies that so long
We hold the earth from heaven away.

"These clumsy feet, still in the mire,
Go crushing blossoms without end;
These hard, well-meaning hands we thrust
Among the heart-strings of a friend.

"The ill-timed truth we might have kept--
Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung?
The word we had not sense to say--
Who knows how grandly it had rung!

"Our faults no tenderness should ask.
The chastening stripes must cleanse them all;
But for our blunders -- oh, in shame
Before the eyes of heaven we fall.

"Earth bears no balsam for mistakes;
Men crown the knave, and scourge the tool
That did his will; but Thou, O Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!"

The room was hushed; in silence rose
The King, and sought his gardens cool,
And walked apart, and murmured low,
"Be merciful to me, a fool!"

forgive me for travelling so far away from your words

[Neva Flores Smith - Cha..]

You have depicted perfectly how some feel after a breakup. It is so hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel sometimes. Excellent work.

[Thea]

Aw, so emotional...I can feel the message of your poem...And I can really relate in some of the lines...Well done! :)

[Sleeping Maiden]

wow. Dark and emotional. Love the imagery here. Very well written! Such sadness can be hard to overcome.. Great write! very relatable. I love this poem!