Another chapter ends
and the hero stumbles offstage
bruised and longing for a better story
though he won’t admit it.
With a rueful smile, he jokes that
love always wakes the dragon but
now the princess thinks
he’s the one breathing fire.
Dear So-and-So,
remember when you said I could be anything
so between hope and despair
I chose to be a hero.
And remember when you said I could do anything
so I loved absolutely, only to find
the window to her heart painted shut.
Dear So-and-So,
won’t you write us a happy ending?
and then we won’t be so sad when it’s over.
Walk through our dreams
give us something more than incomplete desires
until then I’ll leave our story in your hands.
So won’t you tell me
we’re not doomed in the grand scheme of things
that we’re not just tiny specks to be forgotten.
Let the camera pan to where the action is,
all I ask is that you won’t leave us behind.
So forget the dragon
just take my hand, let’s jump ahead to
when we’re no longer alone.
I’m just a writer but
put all we can’t say out loud on paper
and we’ll forever be the heroes.
It took me a while, but I found the piece that was the motivation for this one - “Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out” by Richard Siken. I think it was around the time we had to submit graduation quotes, and I wanted to cram in a small poem of my own making. In the end I gave up and went with a BoJack Horseman bit instead, but only after I spewed this out. It’s pretty long and it doesn’t really make sense - but sure, I’m still fond of it.