the sun shines
today
yet it found
the wrong
end of the
cycle and the
golden light
only highlights
the depravity
dripping down
depression’s
sullen sigh

a prison cage
of illumination
trapping the
shimmering hints
of beauty
into a mass of
indignant malaise

i saw my
reflection before
the shadows
swarmed to hide
my disfigured
frame and now
the too bright
horizon is
a mockery of
undulating ugliness

my tongue longs
for bitter heat
but empty
cupboards bring
no salvation
to a tired vagabond
dragging his
battered heart
to the recycling
center hoping for
enough to get by
another aimless day
in cascading
curiosities held
together by
scotch tape and
despicable longing

the sun shines
but at the wrong end
of the oscilloscope
calculating waveform
analysis on
a mad drifter
in a suffusion of
golden emptiness