No tread upon the stair

To wake an echo in the heart -

Nor smile to ease the burden

Of tasks - now lacking aim - or object.

No bright confetti breaks over

The file of long grey moments - marching

In rhythm - one after another.

Here reigns a strange silence -

No strong accent speaks

A familiar presence.

Gone - the intangible hold

Of authority - dissolved

Into muted, mixed uncertainties.

Frivolity - unbalanced by formality -

Topples the towers of thought.

The mind - loosed from it's check-rein,

Stampedes - wild - minus direction.

Before - now - after - blending

Into chaos - blind to reason.

Utter dependency mourns it's exile

With questioning tears. Conscience -

Scored by lashes of inadequacy - neglect -

Mis-judged worth - grovels in the dust

Of past mistakes. A heart, unmoored -

Seeks anchorage in an unfamiliar sea.

Certain certainties of death unite -

A towering wave that overwhelms -

Releases it's power with a frightening roar -

And recedes - taking with it