THE BROKEN MAN
The broken man comes long...
Comes hard...
He wanders through your
Own backyard...
He carries with him a strong
Scent...
His clothes have stains...
He pushes carts,
Or pulls a box of things he's found
Over the rough concrete
Of life...
You've seen him standing, stranded like a piece of bulky waste
That has become affixed within the branches of
Of an Elm...
An instant thought inside your head demands that
He erase...
There's something too chaotic to him; an ugliness that's marred
You're typical descent into another weekday
Plan...
You want to just roll into work, and hide beneath the
Guise
Of who you are, and what you're paid to hustle to
The mass...
The guillotine of day to day....The Book of Life...
The Guide...
Though out there on the balance beam
He flaps and guides his arms
Just like a fighter plane,
Or the great crane that swoops and dives...
Right on the edge of traffic...
He's got no ounce of shame to give...
You live inside your Avatar; his eyes are hot
And moist...
Is either life the better life?...
It all comes down to choice...
And what you see, and what you fear
From the overgrown arena...
A lawn that needs a shave shouts back!....
The psyche follows its own tract...
You stand upon a soapbox frame,
And spit your seeds down through dark drain...
...Now don't assume there's only one face
To the broken man...
Don't tell yourself,
"That poor sad sap...
He's damned, he's damned, he's damned!..."
And then exclude yourself from blame,
Viewing the world inside a frame...
Within a snow globe
You can wind
While through the ducts
Of your design
Sinatra's piped in day and night...
Look in the mirror, and gaze with fright
Upon the curves and dips of age..
Gaze at that scar!...
Let fingers trace
The slipshod whiskers
That missed your blade...
Now with the microscope of truth
Dive deep
Within each lake you call your eyes...
You are the broken man, you fool!...
Come out and shine!...
Surprise!...Surprise!...
The broken man comes long...
Comes hard...
He wanders through your
Own backyard...
3/16/23
Bunny Villaire
Edit #3