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

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