StylusLit

March 2017

Back to Issue 1

Schopenhauer

By Duncan Richardson

 

thinking
of you

 

breaking
up your mother’s salons

 

with
your dark words

 

 

 

i
agree

 

walking
is just a way

 

to
defer a fall

 

but
still it does

 

take
you somewhere

 

 

 

and
laughing just puts off

 

the
final choking gasp

 

but
it’s fun

 

while
it lasts

 

 

 

then
you had that last fight

 

with
your mother

 

and
sloped out

 

never
speaking to her

 

again

 

 

 

so
all those words

 

merely
staving off silence

 

clattered
into the abyss

 

 

 

years
before the rope bridge

 

finally
fell

 

 

 

yes
every breath

 

is
merely a delay

 

to
stillness

 

 

 

and
every look

 

merely
a dance of eyes

 

against
the dark

 

 

 

yes
all that is true

 

except
one word

 

 

 

merely