cast out

i was cast aside

a broken fishing rod that never

cast its line

forever a bundle

of tangled string and metal.

i could never catch a fish.

i was broken and damaged

prepared to fall apart

good for nothing else

other than to play my part;

doomed from the start.

my mind was a marriage

of dysfunctional mirages,

flickering images of happiness

that left too soon

and were never real.

i could never feel the way they did.

cast out,

a fishing line tossed to the wind

only to blow away like an untethered kite

and find a home in the trees

torn apart by cruel branches.

cast out,

a stowaway on a stolen ship

waiting to crash

a castaway

on the island of my thoughts.

cast out

like a cast iron stove,

no longer efficient enough

for hungry mouths and greedy bodies.

not safe enough to protect sensitive fingers.

it's only a matter of time until i'll fail you.