Still

Eternal banality
Of simmering contradiction,
On bleak reflection
I follow you to perdition.

Insipid fiends
Haunt my waking dreams,
As soothing melodies unseen
Pluck my heart strings redeemed.

Unremarkable one,
What was built has come undone;
Exempting the master's hand
That stirs the wretch's playpen.

Beleaguered things,
Princes of nothing,
The whole world could be yours
And yet you settle for a dust grain's share!

Death comes
to you out of respect;
But, sad creature,
What of your regrets?

What of the savage things
That used to tantalize?
Like the playful laugh
of the Lion's eyes.

We've grown apart
And hardly recognize,
Drowning in the dismal surf
Of days resigned.

Still,
Even as phantoms
We have our place
And our wounded pride,

A place
Under the stars,
Great spectral things
That we used to prize!

Eternal banality,
Inspirations that come and go,
We are faithless degenerates
With fates revoked.

Tattered by storms,
Made vile by time,
With eyes like glowing coals
In flawed designs.

Things of regret,
Reach deep,
As sure as your heart beats
For release.