Make quick work of this life, child
As it passes before the seething of your ever-darkening eyes
Deep, like the steaming abyss of strong morning coffee
And the hopelessness of even stronger whiskey at dusk

Eschewing the things of childhood
Your innocence, so foolish and fleeting
With hands taut and time ticking
Thoughts racing, cherry bombs and bottle rockets ricochet inside your head

Soft, delicate fingers tap the cylinder’s circular array
Disappointment and delusions carry the barrel toward an apparition
Temporary stillness and the redolence of gunpowder, electricity, and sweat
How can this lissome creature initiate such a grave consequence?

In the confluence of rivers
A derecho is crushing the bow
And the murky waters that will never fill your eyes,
Flood those who frantically scoop the sinking vessel

Suffering cannot be contained
And peril is never foretold
The fate of inequity and madness taps us upon our naked shoulders
And one hairpin turn capsizes us into a trap set forth by this world


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