On the third day of always

The forever man arrived

With a bag full of yesterdays

That had somehow survived

He had transcended time

And flown across space

For he'd learned of our crime

And he knew what we'd face

Our folklore had told

That when ours was done

The new time and the old

Would just melt into one

He'd been to forever

And thus he was named

But he didn't know whether

We could justly be blamed

We were given a world

And we ruined its past

When its future unfurled

It just couldn't last

With so many now dead

And more death on its way

He cradled our head

And showed us yesterday

Like a slideshow from god

What we had was on view

The green where we trod

And the oceans when blue

But with each passing shot

All the greens turned to brown

We'd put a match to the lot

And in black seas we'd drown

We realised too late

Why this man from elsewhere

Was showing us our fate

When the time's past to care

He said 'Know your sin'

As his time overflowed

After pulling the pin

So our star would explode

On the fourth day of always

We were finally gone

With nothing but haze

For the moon to pull on

And the man from forever

Knew that there'd be more

He just hoped that he'd never

Need knock on their door...

i’m 19, and a college student--

no, strike that,

i dropped out after a semester

because i couldn’t afford it--

no, strike that,

i flunked out because i couldn’t handle it.

the truth,

the honest truth?

a month before i turned eighteen

i was raped.

and with fingers on my throat

and in my skin

and in my dreams,

i only barely made it

through senior year,

but i thought that i’d be better,

for sure,

because i didn’t know what else to be,

but the fingers never left me

and it took all i had just to keep on

being.

and then two months after college started,

i listened to my friend kill herself,

heard her sob into the line,

and the bang, and the silence,

and i hated myself for not saving her

and i hated myself for hating her

and i hated myself because all i thought

before bursting into tears

was

no fair.

why did she get to do it,

why did she get to leave?

all my problems,

all my pain,

and she got relief,

and i was left behind.

and i couldn’t do it,

couldn’t go to class,

couldn’t go to work,

couldn’t find it in me to crawl out of bed

and look at the world.

everything was shit--

no, strike that,

i was shit,

and everything went wrong.

so i lied,

because it was all i remembered how to do,

and after i’d been kicked out,

i’d been taken in,

because i cried and crooned,

and wove a tale of not how i was pitiful,

but how i was poor,

because it was easier to deal with money issues

than mental issues.

but i made it through the year

and back to a place

that everyone else called my home,

where i was beaten and cursed

and told to die

(and what kind of home charges rent,

by the way)

by a person who didn’t even know how useless

i was.

as far as my mother was concerned,

i had a 4.0 gpa,

but even that

wasn’t good enough.

and now,

i’m out, or will be soon,

but i’m poor, for real,

working as a waitress at a job that doesn’t cover

my rent, and forgetting my past,

my skills,

in favor of the lunch and dinner

menu.

(i knew languages once, didn’t i?

built websites and programs,

spoke with natives in France

and learning more)

and what was the point?

no degree, no experience,

no money, no pride.

the fingers haven’t left.

i hear his voice,

and hers,

and mine,

all screaming.

i don’t know where i’m going.

i’m scared.