Alone in a dark room

Decay my only companion

I see at last how things will be

If the future is as the present

So different shall I become

That even the mirror

Will pose a stranger.

Like a cello without strings

No sweet sound shall I make.

No concerto can I create

To take your very breath away.

Like paint peeling off a wall

Shall a pristine façade fall away.

The pain I shield you from

Will pierce you like a splinter.

Like ancient draperies

The color will fade from me.

My very self swept away

Only a faded richness to remain.

Like a castle of old

I shall crumble leaving memory alone

In this world I won’t exist

Except in crumbling stone.

I feel the world die around me

In shriveled flowers and decompositions

I shall finally trust fair intuition

To lead me by justice blind

Into oblivion so sublime.