Orpheus

DITOLLO

In my dream I drank Apollo's wine,

And at once everything was just fine.

But the more I drank the emptier I got,

For I knew the wine would last not.

Unable to sit in Apollo's throne and pour the wine,

Doomed to drink by myself, the pleasure was all mine.

There's a rose in the barn

Next to the horse's hoove

It wasn't smelled today

Nor was it yesterday

The horse rests for now

And maybe even tomorrow

Though if it were to wake

Where would its weight fall?

Perhaps a visitor will come

Running just to see the red

Yet I doubt one will appear

With the doors all locked tight

Tonight, my toothbrush felt foreign in my hand,

Was the change in me or it, I couldn't understand.

Though the mirror insisted on a familiar sight,

I knew my mind was eroded, by isolation and spite.

Brushing felt odd, in the silent night,

Certain I'd remain unknown, in my own sight.

I remember what it was like before it reigned over the world. It had always been there. Always lurking, like moss growing on a tree, like water eroding a stone, like a corpse decomposing. We should've seen it coming, but we were so mesmerised by its boots, by its pants and by those pesky Prada sunglasses.

It knew our weakness: we hadn't recognized why the hands spin yet.

When it took over, everyone expected it, so we welcomed it. In fact, we were content that it finally won. Now, no one believes me. No one realizes we once lived without it. No one tries to escape its dance. I have to warn them.

the clouds watch,

the ground holds on,

the sunflower yearns,

the trees sigh,

and time carries me.

Someone's lying,

Me, myself or I.

I think I found the culprit,

But I must know why.

After a long questioning,

Realized the blame's mine,

So I pull the trigger,

And now the self is gone.

At night,

I sat with my flashlight.

"surely it'll come back the same time", I thought

what does it find in the dark that it doesn't at light?

the solace of shadows, freedom from its own sight?

so I'll let it dream on its own, it's only right

The wind mocks me as it blows

The sun laughs as it shines

"We told you so" they cry

"Yet still, you didn't try"

I hang my head in shame

I wouldn't know who to blame

"Try again" the sun laughs

As the wind takes all from my grasp

Does anyone else feel this way

I ask

As my words search for their purpose

As I stroke the haggard stray dog

As I gaze upon the washed-out colors of a rose

As I see you on the porch, cigarette in hand

As I stop hearing the finches sing

But I won't listen for a response

To bear the burden of accepting solitude

So I choose to forget I ever saw you

There's a man I've been avoiding

I see him on busy roads

Peering through the crowd

Though I cannot tell his intentions

His gaze freezes me to my core

A smirk like scavengers pecking at my soul

There's a man I've been avoiding

He waits silently at night

Watching me from the sidewalk

No matter where I went

How much I bruised my eyes

He's always there, in my peripheral

Maybe one night I'll go up to him

Shake his hand and meet him

Perhaps I'll enjoy his company

But for now I'll just run and hide

Taste of metal in my throat,

Washed up nails, coins and coil.

A reminder of all I had swallowed,

All my sorrow and all my toil.

No excuse to be myself yet,

I'll bury all of this beneath the soil.

Maybe I'll grow into a tall oak,

Maybe I'll make my rose spoil.

I plucked a flower from her field,

And planted it in mine.

I couldn't bear a rotten garden,

I can't take back what I've done.

So I spoiled, Her rose, her love,

All that was pure, that sacred dove.

Does my troubled ghost still haunt you?

Cause your sunflower still makes me blue

Does Icarus dream of the sun

When he's hung low, among mere mortals

Does he miss that beautiful blinding burning heat,

That painful shattering of dreams?

To relive the past, to feel what has passed,

Does Icarus burn his wings and tear down his limbs?

I walked and walked and walked

Till I reached the end of all I was taught

What I knew, no more than a shadow under the sun

All my thoughts, all my essence, gone

I wanted to hold on, to keep something that was mine

But of course, drowning was way more fun

It's awaiting me, somewhere I can't see

I'll turn myself in and be anything it wants me to be