Memory

In a dark, smoky corner of a forgotten bar,

Where the neon lights flicker like dying stars,

I sit alone, with a drink in hand,

A man whose life never went as planned.

My fingers trace the rim of the glass,

Each scratch a memory of a love that didn’t last,

The stale air heavy with tales of regret,

Of dreams unfulfilled and debts unpaid yet.

The bartender, she nods, knowing all too well,

The stories this man’s weary eyes could tell,

Of days spent toiling under a merciless sun,

Nights lost in shadows, nowhere to run.

My laughter, now, is a crackling radio, static and spent,

Echoing in a room where hours are bent,

Where hope is a coin tossed in a wishing well,

And fate, a dealer with nothing left to sell.

The lines on my face, a roadmap of sorrow,

Each wrinkle a path I’d tread again tomorrow,

For in this world of steel, smoke, and grime,

I’m just another soul, lost in time.

So, in the end, I raise my glass to the ghosts in the room,

To the dreams that died, the love that met its doom,

In a world that spins too fast for those who walk slow,

Im a man who’s been everywhere but has nowhere to go.

I refuse

To be sure, this is the craziest period of my life

sitting in this chair,

a helpless passenger.

A victim of the cruel, but with good intentions, 

or so they say, 

insanity.

So, 

I refuse,

To be intimidated, 

To be used, 

To be marginalized, 

To be over worked, 

To be ignored,

To be forced to compromise, 

To be disrespected,

To be forgotten,

To be patronized,

To be fooled,

To be beaten down,

To be raped,

To be told who to hate,

To be in a position of hate,

I refuse damnit!

I refuse to believe in them,

I refuse to let them bait me,

I refuse to let them categorize me,

I refuse to let them believe they are relevant to me,

I refuse to acknowledge the self entitled,

I refuse billionaires who believe they are benevolent!

I need to rise out of this chair of complacency,

turn off the computer,

switch off the phone, 

put my feet on the ground, 

and keep on trucking.

To leave this period of sin behind me.

I know, there is still good out there, somewhere.

A place just over the horizon,

in that warm yellow light at sunset. 

Isn’t that where happiness lives?

I need to find the way, need directions, I need a map.

But for now… 

I just fucking refuse. It is my right.

Isn’t it? 

  

What do you refuse?