Tikki

 

You were perfection, so you could not live,

For things too perfect dare not breathe for long

In such an anguished world. You stayed a while

To charm us with your vibrant, winning ways,

Your love of life, your fearless trust in us.

And then you left.

 

Why did you leave the life you loved so well

In lonely pain? I saw your dying eyes

Bewildered at this vile and sudden trick

Played by a fate you thought was kind and fair.

And we were stunned, were unbelieving, sick,

That this could be.

 

My head is full of tears. My heart is full

Of strange and savage thoughts. I hate this world,

This shrieking world of imperfections, where

Ugliness and vice and crime can thrive –

This tattered place of shabby, jangling words

And evil deeds.

 

I know too well this was no world for you.

And yet I rage against the tragic day

That came so quick and burned an aching scar

Upon my mind. The days that come are grey,

Are grey, are grey. The house that sparkled once

Is silent, dead.

 

The joy has passed, and long dark points of pain

Have jabbed and stabbed into my memory.

Yes, you have passed the final cruel gate,

The last ordeal. And I remain to curse

The furious force that maims and kills, and blots

All beauty out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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