I’m Haunted By The Useless Lines

Oh tragedy, such tragedy

For drama demands it,

And still, the verse withholds

Nary a voice to protest

Nor a tome to record the dismay

Yet refuse the scorn and tempest

My silence must be shattered

And my confession laid bare on the stage

For I speak to the many

Championing their castoff sorrows

Their endless gathering of crafted words

Poignant, yet still indistinguishable

Forever though poised as still present

Tis the count of the many useless lines

How at birth they did gather such glow

Saw my pen gracefully offer them page

Enshrined as opening verses

Lauded for such fluency and valor

But once stationed, despair did emerge

And to this moment, still they stand alone

Refusal is but folly, for they remain

Flickering, like the lamp with waning fuel

Yet never surrendering the spark

Sluggish remnants refusing to fade away

What such curse hath been brought forth

Not a haunting, but a vigorous plagued

Desperate for completion, searching

So, it lives in vain, yet without companion

Couplets, nay, for substance is lacking

No perhaps when irony stands vigil

Yet forever impish on my restless mind

Poised on the precipice of infamy

However, anchored in silence

Awaiting an accompany…

Leather demanding poetry

When gold trumpets such illumination,

Clandestine divulgence coded lightly

In the tome of defunct cataclysms

Azure reflections of incessant mirages

Imprisoned in my pocket prism

Midnight epiphanies conjuring silence

While dreams screaming confusion

Stand fast and overweigh the target

For daggers cast are but a blistered view

Fascination guards the empty veil

Whilst no truth speaks on the barren altar

Plucking perceived divinity of the underripe

Whilst trampling the recently fallen succulence

What of the great moment of distraction

And shadowing the missed discovery

Hallucinations drawing poetic laughter

While streaming tears a predictive cleansing

Agonizing the failures of fallen romance

Collecting ashes from the letter pile

Teeth grin flash of symphonic betrayal

Echoes of the sharp edge vibration

And more, so much and so many

Useless lines with such potential, yet held fast

Captured in the hovering stylus

Most followed by the blotted ink

Drops cascading past glacial thought

And the clarity of the parchment below

Additional Reading

R.J. Schwartz is an American Poet and Author. If you enjoyed I’m Haunted By The Useless Lines and would like to read more of his work

His complete works on The Creative Exiles Website can be found here

The Gypsy Thread is a huge collection of his original work

Ralph also writes on HubPages

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R J Schwartz

I write about everything and sometimes nothing at all.I'm fascinated by old things, rusty things, abandoned places, or anywhere that a secret might be unearthed.I'm passionate about history and many of my pieces are anchored in one concept of time or another.I've always been a writer, dating back to my youth, but the last decade has been a time of growth for me.I'm continually pushing the limitations of vocabulary, syntax, and descriptive phrasing.

Latest posts by R J Schwartz (see all)

• Who Are You? - May 26, 2023
• I’m Haunted By The Useless Lines - May 25, 2023
• Step Away Oh Gentle Butterfly - May 16, 2023