Vagabonds and Sundries

L.M. BROwNINg

stonington, connecticut

HomeboundpublicationsIndependent Publisher of Contemplative Titles

poetic remanants of lives past

15

Down Along the River Styx

Wrapped in your straightjacket of self-involvement

We plow ahead into the dark horizon

Conjured by your ill-yearnings.

You built this faulty ship

With its warped compass and missing keel,

With its brittle bones and gutted sails.

You set the course to that forsaken place

And hold to it each day no matter my pleas

And the omens warning you away.

Why must I make the journey unto ruin with you?

You do not value my companionship.

You simply want company in your misery.

You do not care how many years I lose,

Never taking into account what I might have wanted.

The only need you have of me is as a nursemaid

When at last this boat runs aground

And the vulturous society you keep comes to eat you alive.

...And you curse me for jumping ship.