Perfect Misery

Inspired by grief and John Milton's "Paradise Lost."

Perfect Misery

 

Ten thousand thunders

Rolled across my sky

Releasing razor rain

That sizzled as it fell.

 

I experienced a daisy death

It was quick but spread slowly.

A spiritual chill

Of the head and heart

And a mildew of the mind

 

I knew I did not have dark foundations

Beyond that banal teenage masochism.

So why should I not be shown light,

But rather darkness?

Perhaps this woe would one day warrant a walk on Heaven’s pavement.

A withered glory could be found among this wreckage.

But why should I have to wait that long?

 

Now rose-colored exhilaration

Runs through the ligaments of my life.

What was once a cinnamon wasteland

Has been sprinkled with sugar.

Sticky, sweet, and more sapid 

Since I swallowed despair.

A despair that still lingers 

But has been partially lifted

By Heavenly fingers.