Monday Poem: Old Monsters

Old Monsters

There were stars out there once for us.
Standing on these cold hillsides,
We could see only the covering sky.
Not satisfied with the limits of ordinary sight
We desired to know what lay beyond the dark.
But gravity always drags us down
To crawl through these ravaged lands
To hunt and to prey on each other.
It is far easier to fall than to fly.

There could be a chance of stepping outside,
Of taking a step beyond these confines,
If only we could remember the art
Of how to dare, how to desire flight.
If we were not trapped here,
Lost down amongst these ruins,
In a land haunted by the ghost
Of a language separated from thought,
Wandering though these wrecked lands
Without the ability to speak
Of pain, loneliness and distance.

These bare hillsides are deserted and dark
As the valleys begin to light up the night
With glowing orange ribbons of brightness
Connecting the pools of white light
And the somnolent ancient monsters stir
Out of the old darkness and shadows
To slowly begin their crawl through the night.

We had almost forgotten these ancient fears
Before they came lurching from the dark,
Back to disfigure our idle dreams.

Published in Interpoetry issue 15

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