On First Mistakes

And then there was failure…
And the future,
Indeed the whole world
looked bleak
..and hard …and cold …and uncaring
Its taste was the bitterness of prejudice
..the hot salt of my tears
..and sour as the curses
that lined my tongue

But what made it worse, were the
shattered expectations
spewed across the path

Each a callous and cutting blade
I had to walk upon.

With bated breath

I brace myself in solitude
for just one sound
among a sonorous multitude.

I strain to hear it’s delight
like a little girl waiting to hear
the tooth fairy’s footsteps in the night.

I listen as I embark
on a lengthy battle with sensibilities and
silent raging storms in the endless dark.

I don’t dare breathe
For fear that the shallowest whisper
Might cause it’s retreat

For I’ve heard sometimes love arrives like that..
It’s sound the solitary plop...
Of a teardrop on a muddy lake.