Soliloquy at the Breaking Point
In chambers echoing—my fractured soul—
where shadows dance, unseen scars take their toll...
I etch these words. A final, fragile—
(Can they hear?)
(Will they understand this cry?)
To those who held my heart... before... this long goodbye.
Each letter, see it bleeds; a piece laid bare,
this testament to all I couldn't quite... bear.
students:
seekers, flame.
For you, my students—seekers of truth, bright flame—
I leave these shards of wisdom—
(hard-won . . . whispered . . . shame?)
Remember... every lesson, every shared, soft sigh,
the quiet strength we forged—through tears that never fully dry.
Let courage be your compass—knowledge... shield it well—
Against the world's harsh stage, where cruelties often dwell,
and shadows gather deep.
And for my creatures... faithful, constant hearts, dear friends,
whose artless love sustained... through all my darkest parts, my bitter ends,
Creatures . . .
faithful hearts,
I pen instructions—woven with my love—so true—
To keep you safe... protected...
(Oh, what more . . . what more can one broken soul do?)
It breaks me—utterly—to imagine your soft cries... your questing gaze,
bereft of tender touch... those gentle, purring lullabies through lonely days.
I must pray... I must hope... that other hands will appear, benign and kind,
To give you all the love... the constant warmth... you were always meant to find.
For I am ghost... already... of who I was...
doors shut—
each road exhausted... what is there left...
nothing more.
This homelessness—a spectre, fate too grim to face for you, my gentle ones,
No life, no peace... no sunlit window... no chance...
beneath indifferent suns.
And so, with aching soul—my will... it shatters, trembles, still—
The only end... I'm left with... the bitter cup I choose to fill.
A cruel kindness, then—cloaked in darkest, deepest despair...
To free myself... from burdens I no longer... can bear...
(A mercy . . . or surrender . . . to the air?)
Yet, even as I teeter... on the brink... a thread of hope... a fragile link...
I see you... in my fading dreams...
homes of endless, gentle spring...
where love... will be your shelter... and your steady, joyful wing...
This fleeting vision... it soothes this weary... fading heart...
A fragile balm... to ease the endless sting of my depart...
Though I must fade—dissolve—into the coming, silent night...
My love endures...
(a flickering . . . distant . . . burning light?)
So let these whispered words... this haunted, broken, faltering cry...
Stand as a promise... that will never... never truly die...
In every trembling line... a piece of me... you'll find, somehow,
will watch... will guide... the souls you're meant to be... starting now.
And as I slip... into the vast... unknown...
I pray you'll find the peace... a peace I've never, ever known...
For in the tapestry of love we've spun... with threads so fine,
Our souls will hold... entwined...
(Even when . . . this life . . . no longer . . . mine?)
Echoes in Ice
I am the spectre . . . unwritten ends, now brittle,
A vessel . . . cruel winds . . . ice-shattered . . .
Each breath a battle . . . a final trial . . .
I pen these words, one last . . . fractured denial.
cruel winds . . .
shattered . . .
denial.
To those I’ve guided . . . nurtured . . . may you heal,
Whose minds I’ve . . . sparked, dreams I hoped to reveal,
I leave these shards . . . wisdom . . . hard-won, glacial proof,
. . . strength forged in fires . . . an unspoken, chilling truth.
For creatures . . .
shared my heart,
love . . .
tear-stained part,
And for the creatures . . . who shared my heart’s brief thaw,
Whose love sustained . . . each tear-stained, fragile part,
I craft a plan . . . with trembling hand . . . numb soul,
To keep you safe . . . protected . . . healed and whole.
plan . . .
safe . . .
whole.
It rends my spirit . . . the thought of your soft cries,
Bereft of touch . . . my whispered lullabies.
But I must hope . . . that fate might intervene,
To bless you with love . . . always felt, always seen.
For I am lost . . . a wanderer in this biting night,
Each path erased by rime . . . each door barred tight.
The spectre of the streets . . . a fate too cruel, too stark,
No home for you . . . no chance . . . no warming spark, life renewed.
Spectre . . .
night,
paths erased . . .
no home . . .
no chance . . .
And so, with aching . . . tear-frosted face,
I choose the only end . . . to embrace.
A twisted mercy . . . sorrow's icy shawl,
To free myself . . . these burdens, once and for all.
twisted mercy . . .
sorrow's shawl.
Yet even as I drift . . . towards the brink,
A fragile hope persists . . . a shimmering, frosted link.
In dreams, I see you thrive . . . in homes of gentle light,
Where love will be . . . a guardian . . . to your sight.
Drift . . .
dreams . . .
light.
This fleeting vision . . . for my shattered core,
A salve to ease . . . the ache of nevermore.
Though I must fade . . . into oblivion's embrace,
My love will be . . . a shield . . . your saving grace.
Shattered . . .
salve . . .
nevermore.
So let these words . . . this haunted, fractured requiem,
Stand as a promise . . . whispered on a frozen limb.
In every line . . . a piece of me . . . still bright,
To guide you always . . . through each encroaching, darkest night.
And as I slip . . . to the great unknown, so vast,
I pray you'll find . . . a peace I've never known, to last.
For in the fabric . . . of love we've surely sewn,
Our souls . . . entwined, forever . . . though you face the world . . . on your own.
I am . . .
unwritten . . .
gone.
The ink of our stories continues flowing even as we approach life’s most difficult crossroads. Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash
Ink Unspooled at the Threshold
“Non omnis moriar.”
– Horace
Opening: Fractured Self
Who’s left, when the mirror spits back static-
A stutter of faces, a flicker, a fizz-
I am the echo in the stairwell,
A moth in the socket,
Spinning, spinning,
My mind a carousel of keys,
Jangling, clanging,
No lock to fit.
World’s Indifference
Listen-
The world grinds on,
A cold machine,
Its gears gnash,
Its eyes glass-green.
I’ve shouted into inboxes,
Tapping, tapping,
My pleas ricochet,
A hail on tin,
No answer in the static,
Only the hush of “no,”
And the hush is a hammer.
Farewell to Students
To you, my bright ones-
You, with your notebooks and nervous laughter,
You, who grew in the dark,
I leave the marrow of my meaning:
Let knowledge outpace the wolves.
Let your questions crack the shell
Of every easy answer.
Remember:
The world is not just,
But you can be.
Let your hope be a howl,
Let your laughter be a shield.
Farewell to Animals
Soft noses, feathered hush,
Paws in the hallway,
Heartbeat hush-
I’ve left the list, the food, the names,
The number for the vet,
A blanket folded,
A window cracked for sun.
Forgive me,
Forgive me-
Oh please - forgive me-
I have run out of doors.
Desperation and Decision
I have begged, I have borrowed,
I have bartered my sleep,
I have mapped every alley,
I have counted the sheep-
But the night keeps on gnashing,
And the dawn never breaks.
I am spent, I am scattered,
I am the last note the violin makes
Before the string snaps.
The Choice
So-
Snap.
The clock ticks,
The ink drips,
A hush falls,
A hush,
A hush.
Hope for Survivors
But I dream-
You, curled in a shaft of light,
You, laughing, learning,
You, safe in the hush of a home.
Let my leaving be a door,
Not a wall.
Let my words be a bridge,
Not a stone.
In the hush,
May you hear my hope.
Legacy
Ink unspooled,
Voice unspun.
I am the whisper in the rafters,
The pawprint in the dust,
The lesson half-remembered,
The love that lingers,
Even when the door shuts.
Closing: Release
So let these lines be lanterns-
Flicker, flutter,
Guide you through the gutter-murk,
Let them stutter,
Let them sing-
I am gone,
But in the hush,
A bell rings.
In the empty spaces between footfalls, we find the echoes of our departing selves.
Placeholder image made in Midjourney v5.2
Absolution in Ink -rewrite
I haunt these halls-
a shadow stitched to linoleum,
a footfall in the hush
before the bell.
Each step is a gauntlet,
each breath a blade
against the throat of morning.
I write in the dark,
a final flare,
a phosphor script
on the bones of night.
To you-
students, seekers,
I leave a map:
let knowledge
be your lantern,
let truth be your teeth.
To you-
creatures curled
in the crook of my arm,
I leave the rhythm
of my hands,
the scent of my sleeve,
the promise of a bowl,
a window cracked for sun.
I have walked
the splintered roads,
worn my shoes
to the quick.
The streets wait-
mouths open,
hungry for the softest thing.
I cannot feed you
to that hunger.
So I script my exit,
one last rebellion
against the cold machinery
of indifference.
If death is mercy,
let it be a rest.
Yet even as I fade,
I see you-
in rooms of laughter,
in arms that do not tremble.
Let this vision
be the balm
that steadies my hand.
Let these words
be my last decree:
in every line,
a piece of me breaks free,
to hover, to guide,
to light your way
when all else fails.
The remnants of a life: scattered papers and the last letter written in a dim, cold room where
hope has faded. The final echo in an empty space. Image by Midjourney v6.
3. Tender Echoes in Ink - revised
“Non omnis moriar.”
– Horace
I am-
but who deciphers
the static in my marrow,
the flicker of a filament
spitting sparks
in the socket of my skull?
I am the vessel,
cracked and brimming,
where anguish sloshes,
tide against glass.
This world-
a crooked scale,
its fulcrum rusted,
its verdicts cold as coins
dropped in a well.
I tumble through
the hush of halls,
my pleas ricocheting
off marble, off memory,
off the backs of those
who never turn.
All I cherished-
ghosts in the fog,
fur and feather,
warmth and weight.
I write goodbyes
with knuckles white,
each syllable a shackle,
each phrase a pebble
dropped in the well of my chest.
For those I taught-
let your questions
crack the shell
of every easy answer.
Let hope be a howl,
let your laughter
shield you from the wolves.
For those I fed-
I’ve left the list,
the blanket,
the sunlit window.
Forgive me-
I have run out of doors.
I have begged,
bartered sleep,
mapped alleys,
counted sheep.
But the night keeps gnashing,
the dawn never breaks.
I am the last note
the violin makes
before the string snaps-
snap-
a hush,
a hush.
But I dream-
you, curled in a shaft of light,
you, safe in the hush of a home.
Let my leaving be a door,
not a wall.
Let my words be a bridge,
not a stone.
In the hush,
may you hear my hope.
"I pen farewells with hands that tremble, ache, / Each word a weight, each phrase a shackled sigh." Image by Midjourney v7
I am! Yet who discerns the self I bear?
My essence flickers, dimming like a star.
I am the vessel where my anguish dwells,
A mind in constant spin, both near and far.
This unjust world, its balance torn and lost—
Yet still I am—I live—though tempest-tossed.
Into the storm of cold, dismissive eyes,
Into the swirling sea of disbelief,
Where years of earnest, documented cries
Find no safe harbour, no shore, no relief.
All that I cherished fades into the mist,
My faithful friends, my comfort near-dismissed.
I pen farewells with hands that tremble, ache,
Each word a weight, each phrase a shackled sigh.
For those I've guided, nurtured, strived to wake,
Instructions flow like tears that never dry.
The care, the love, the dreams we've woven here—
Unravelled by the threads of fate, severe.
And for the gentle beasts who've shared my heart,
Whose fur and feathers soothed my weary soul,
I trace provisions for when I depart,
Each line an arrow through my being's whole.
The thought of parting rends with searing pain,
Yet homelessness would be a crueller bane.
I've fought, I've pleaded, scraped for any aid,
Exhausted every path, each avenue.
But now the hour comes, the choice is made,
To end this dance, to bid this life adieu.
The shame, the guilt, they claw with vicious talons,
Yet suffering's spectre looms in stark equivalence.
There's solace in imagining their joy,
In homes where love will be their steadfast guide.
Though I'll be gone, my spirit will deploy,
To guard and bless them, ever by their side.
And in that thought, a fragile peace unfurls,
To ease the ache within my shattered world.
So ink becomes my voice, my legacy,
The tether that connects me to their light.
Each caring phrase, a token of what's lost,
Each fond remembrance, armour for their fight.
I'll slip away, a whisper on the breeze,
But in these letters, part of me still breathes.
Amidst the onslaught of festive frenzy,
Neurodivergent minds reel a tempest here to sear.
Senses assaulted, relentlessly vexed,
Christmas chaos leaves us perplexed.
Masking's breaking, taking weight, a suffocating shroud,
Authenticity lost in the neurotypical crowd.
ADHD autism's ache, an adult's disgrace,
So, invisible struggles are present in this merry place.
Pain's persistent, pounding refrain, an endless score,
Fibromyalgia's claws, forever tore.
Spine curved like a question mark,
Vertigo's dance, a dizzying arc.
Poverty's clutch cuts deep, leave plans in disarray,
Opportunities vanish, like mist in the day.
Isolation, depression, chronic cursed alone,
In a world where bonds stretch, then are gone.
Trauma mars, leaves scars, rape's brutal seal,
cPTSD's tortures - terrors forever real.
Triggers flashbacks, a minefield within,
Clock tick-tocks, the night's wearing thin.
Passivity creeps in just like a mischievous elf,
A sinister spirit keeps us captive, steals our self.
Painfully forcing out a cry, on deaf ears they fall,
"You knew they wouldn't", it sneers, "more unanswered calls".
In despair's abyss, hope's flicker dies,
As the world rejoices, behind a joyful disguise.
Countless unseen battles and unheard cries,
Anguish, desperation, pain, do naked eyes lie?
To those who feign concern, a warning rings clear,
Your platitudes and neglect, a deafening sneer.
For in the depths of despair, a reckoning brews,
When the desperate depart, with nothing to lose.
In the sombre, silent night, when alienation reigns,
The psyche buckles, under the weight of its chains.
Remember, you who turned a blind eye,
The blood on your hands as the outcast dies.
So let the silence shatter, let the truth be known,
For the neglected and broken, forever alone.
May their memory haunt, may their absence resound,
A damning indictment, of the help never found.
Silently in the night, isolation's doom looms,
For those left to rot, in desolation's tombs.
A scourge on false kindness, on empathy's dearth,
As the forgotten depart, from this merciless Earth.
A warning to those who still pretend to care,
Of the anguish hidden, behind festive despair's lair.
Family friends forsaken in desolation's night,
Cast aside, ignored as time ticks on, year's plight.
In the silent night, a dirge ascends,
For those struggling, lost at the year's end.
Society's apathy, an unpalatable bitter pill,
Washed down with tears, we fade away against our will.
Let the silence break; let the truth be told,
Of the torment endured, the agony untold.
In summer's sweat, a reckoning should rise,
Power imbalances now, no escape our fate's demise.
May our ghosts haunt the whole season bright,
Reminding us of those for whom this time's a blight.
In the season's glare, coalescing shadows reign,
Numerous reasons, curses feeding this pain.
A moment of stillness, amidst the hurricane,
A flicker of self, in the endless pain.
Battered and bruised, yet still we stand,
In defiance of a world, that refuses to understand.
Whilst it is true, many times I have tried,
But for my animals, it is on me that they rely.
As night follows day and day follows night,
Dark forces frantically fighting, stealing my fight.
Hope's a medicine, both a curse and a sure cure,
Healing if repeatedly given - the source pure.
Decidedly dangerous, deadly, dangled as a prize,
Breaking faith's wraith, soon you and society they'll despise.
A pox on ableism, on empathy's lack,
As we vanish slowly, our lives off-track.
In the silent night, our requiem it plays,
The forgotten ones, left on birthdays and holidays.