So now we enter the eighth pallid doorway Cold, bitter lead and cloth await me Measurements for the fitting of gold Tailored to accent my deception Donning my shawl of burdensome lament I join the unending march of shame A plain of listless faces A pace that rivals mountains' A sheen like glistening fossils Atoning A grave of forging tombstones A howl that rivals cyclones' A shade like rusting metal Atoning A wood of muted petals A grasp that rivals beggars' A cowl like horses' blinders Atoning A grove of deathly gazes A cell that rivals convicts' A throat like maggots writhing Atoning Eternally As a blight on the map of the sky, reigning Our dense flesh will decay like the tide, waning Poetic justice imbued to condemn abusive youth I should have stayed my tongue and realized I was being uncouth And blaming ineptitude just served to obscure the truth A deflection to ignorance is little more than excuse So many trusts I betrayed without remorse for the pain A little compassion would probably have tempered disdain And as relationships frayed, tearing apart from the strain It look me long enough to realize I was less humane Now I have time to reflect, oh so much time to reject The predatory behaviors that manifested neglect And I had learned to correct actions that fed disrespect But consequences aren't absolved for labors in retrospect The crushing weight of this shroud, this obstinate crown endowed Perfectly echoes the facade my apathy once allowed And in the midst of this crowd, agony droning so loud These arteries, like cavalry, invading suffering proud Intransigent, unyielding earth, antarctic Recalcitrant, consternation cathartic Absolution by static rapture, unknown Only by the relentless pounding of dull bone "O, everlastingly fatiguing mantle!" Es from our drowning lungs, abyssal Tethered to a visceral moment, passing Much like the unforgiving ocean currents I will never be consumed by soft white noise Only by the relentless pounding of dull bone Separate