DID YOU EVER?

Did you ever stop to think,
that life as we know it 
was teetering on the brink?
 
That the cold and calculating eyes 
staring back from the darkness and bile 
of a thousand tormented years,
were just playing games with your emotions; 
stoking the flames of your innermost fears?
 
And the ticking of time 
on the clock in the hall,
merely masking the stains 
eating away at the wall.
 
Did you ever stop to wonder 
at the simplicity of the game, 
the rules of which, 
never remain the same.
 
A change in the rest 
and the hungry hearts that detest 
the success of the lonely one,
until were rolling back the years
to the place where it all once began.
 
And the advancing hands 
on the clock in the lounge,
never daring to look back 
with a lust for revenge.
 
Did you ever stop to hear
the creaking boards
and silent fear.
 
The tangible twist on the handle 
of so many dangerous doors.
The Sandman is here 
to whisper in your ear, 
“Sweet dreams!”, in a world where 
nothing is quite what it seems.
 
And the pendulum swings 
in the clock of your heart.
Springs slowly releasing 
the pent-up emotions 
of a million tear-stained faces;
burned-out traces 
of so many hidden places.
 
And did you ever simply stop and sigh 
as the world went rushing by?
 
Did you ever just hold them close
and stare into confused, beseeching eyes?
 
 
 
 
*
Written by Darren Scanlon, 1st November 2020.
©2020 Darren Scanlon. All rights reserved.