(Inspired by Alan Kaufman’s “The Saddest Man on Earth”)
“The saddest man on Earth
Ignored how the rain felt as he left home for the first time.”
He let the rain dowse his clothes, dragging it to the ground
Like the sadness that dragged his heart into darkness.
He reflected on all that ate away at his heart
Until all that was left was a heavy weight at his core.
The rain would never be as chilling as the deaths
That haunted him into delirium at night.
The road would never be as lonely as the gray walls
That kept him in his room of solitude at 11:59 pm, New Year’s Eve.
The house never as empty as his hopes for mankind.
The fresh, open wounds never as as hurtful as the truths
That had stabbed his mind over the years.
The Ophelias never as despairingly beautiful
As the lies that drowned in his blood.
The abyss never as hollow as the hole in him
That was filled with misery,
That seeped in his veins and every atom in him.
The paintings never as aesthetically pleasing
As the cloud of self-loathe and sorrow
That man takes shelter in and calls home.
“The saddest man on Earth
Ignored how the rain felt as he left home for the last time.”
(Written ~April 2016; Revised 1.3.19)
A Words Shaker 