Leprosy

Leprosy

I.

After how many voyages

could a Man say he is well-traveled?

And after how many years

could a Man say he is too old?

Mankind seduces rats.

We wait, we sit on the edge,

grasping our seats until we have

become engaged to frivolous waiting

and pregnant with untamed jealousy.

We are Lepers.

We browse through our memories,

discarding the ones that make us smile

and saving the ones that don't.

We fool ourselves into believing

that we are not good enough,

that we are too old.

That we are shriveled and dry,

dust stolen away with the breeze.

And we spend the rest of our days

as Miss Havisham.

I do not think we are meant to die like this,

to wear away after endless centuries.

It is too meaningless

of an end.

II.

Spare an ear

and I will utter my words to you,

though they are too heavy

for a paper light as this.

Don't look back.

Come and play pretend with me.

Maybe we can play dolls,

with the rest of the world.

Let us make them our Barbies and

our Kens.

Let us dress them up and

tear them down,

until there is nowhere left to hide.

You turn your back on me.

You stopped playing dolls

a long time ago.

You scoff, you scorn,

you point your finger at my face and laugh.

Tighten up your wig.

Perfect your eyeliner.

And then keep prancing through

this lie Mankind calls reality.

III.

It doesn't have to be this way.

The objects that Mankind is drawn to

are only icons

waiting in our tomb.

Don't let them fool you.

Leprosy is running rampant

through the streets.

Understanding was forgotten

at the last left turn.

Wisdom got discarded

in the garbage heap

at the end of the road.

Naivety has become the fallback,

the second chance,

that I'm not so sure

we really deserve.