Darkness Eternal

'Tis darkness eternal I seek.
Where?
In the deepening shadows
of the setting sun,
or in the gloom that follows
a lonely one?
Nay.
'Tis in the heart of one just dead.
Here in the heart of one just dead
lies darkness eternal,
a place where there can be no light,
no words,
no sound at all,
nothing,
a darkness
darker than night.

W. James Beard, Jr.


Dead Man

I feel the doors closing around me,
the windows being shuttered,
boarded up tight.
I feel the walls closing around me,
the darkness trying to surround me,
the world pinching off the light
of my life.
She's gone,
and now I'm a dead man.
I go to work each day,
I sleep and never play.
and even God has turned away.
No one cares for a dead man.
No one wants a dead man.
I exist,
and nothing more…
I am,
a dead man.

W. James Beard, Jr.