I have grown tired

of contradictions.

Every question

begs an answer

that flies in the face

of every other answer

and all I have left

is the problem

I set out with in the end.

 

I am a child

fighting off dream dragons;

sword broken,

searching for my shield

and lost

in an endless morass,

where slick skinned gremlins

rise up from the muck

and try to pull me down;

down to be with them forever.

 

The only answers

that seem to banish these

endless contradictions

are answers that come

as steel,

and sinew,

an bone,

and muscle,

and will.

 

They surely cut

those demons of the irrational

down in their footsteps.

The swagger of an idiot,

drops one more

false confidence poseur.

Eyes like a frightened animal

 

Back in my child’s mind

the dream gets darker,

but now,

my sword is steel

and my shield is will

and I can fight those monsters,

and I can slay that dragon

and I can cut away

those parts of my psyche

that need cutting.

 

Do it now,

before I become

another useless know-it-all,

spouting endless contradictions.

Answers,

that contradict other answers.

Only steel kills dragons.

 

HG – 2018