Failure Is Not An Option

[Saturn]

Failure Is Not An Option

I'm losing you now
There is no doubt.
You wrap yourself
Up with the robes
Of paltry convention
While I still embrace
This hopeless hope
Sitting in the dark
Pitifully burned
By falling tears:
Tide unstoppable.

You take the road
Travelled by many:
By many accursed.
I cross the fields
Walk the hills alone
Knee-deep in filth
And blood to avoid
That narrow way.

Blessed convergence
Is all too rare now
And I begin to fear
No crossroads lie,
No junctions form
Where our paths may
Ever cross once again.

Like stale, dank smoke
In evening's breeze
My hopes evaporate
To wispy nothings:
Kingdoms of cloud,
Tales of romance
Vanish with a gust.

I feel gridlocked
Hemmed in: Pain
Surrounds me
As I watch you
In the fast lane
Speed far ahead
Without a glance
At this my despair.

How can I tell you
To take me with,
Or slow your course?
How can I hold you,
How can I let go?
Will I be left here
Choking with dust
Blinded with dirt.
Swallowing hurt,
Parched and sore
In the skid-marks?

Throw me a tow-line
Or just cast me away -
Anything is better
Than a bronze medal:
A runner-up prize
In the race for love.
Winning is all:
Defeat is loss
Loss is defeat.
No laurels bind
The loser lost.

I'm not an athlete
No multi-eventer,
This race is all
I know, will ever
Dare compete in.
Failure is no option,
Death the only other
Course I can take.
_______

[AsphodelElysium]

Another great poem. But death isn't an option either.