weighed down, bound by the travails of this life,

at times desolate,

at times with seemingly no respite.


the sunken talons of the drudgery of the days,

clawing deeply, shackle each breath taken,

wresting joy away.


the fierce mauling of time, swatting dreams once dreamed,

left to fester in the chords of the unfinished song.


still we trudge, still we stand upright, still we scribble odes for tomorrow,


still we somehow cope,


still we carry our drained bodies,


still we persist, still we somehow hope …