failure is a feeling
a haze that hangs around
my body
and it makes me blind
with cloudy eery eyes
I wake up in the morning
just the self-same as the night before
I hoped that maybe dreams
would cleanse my mind
in the early morning hours
but failure looms as smoke
by my ceiling
failure is a frenzy
racing to and fro in an
anxious mind
two hundred beaming words
can’t cancel out a lurking feeling
the funny thing about failure
is that it loves to lie
it has a PhD in deceit, actually
much too intelligent for me
it’s hard to differentiate
between truth and lies
in everyday life
but even harder when
the screaming fight is
deep inside
inevitably I will see again
but failure will settle down
in the void, making its room
in my soul
comfortable
fitting sheets to the bed
hanging pictures on the walls
maybe it will never get its
letter of eviction
maybe I will never have
enough affirmation
maybe it’ll burst out
when I least expect it
I can learn to live that way,
I guess
I may not be as pleasant
but I never really was
to begin with
though,
I believe that there will be a day
when someone or something
comes along with a message
of worth
it will smoke failure out
evacuation sirens will
blare
and I’ll feel free
and laugh all day when
failure frantically tries
to gather its belongings
before it burns
to death.