White Dwarves

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December 19, 2010
Watch 
The inmates doomed to stay
In this here 
Prison house/ Counting bars
Watching the shadows/ lengthen
Across the desolate yard

See 
The wistful glances dart 
At sky and skylark both
Freedom and joy both denied 
Watch
As their hunger grows

The world is hard 
On fallen stars
Fate is harder, pitiless
The punishment most serious
For losing what most
Could never hope to get

Most heartbreaking to see
Is the way they turn inwards
Tearing at each other
Killing for the sake of pain buried
Deep in desiccating hearts

For mistakes old and mistakes young
Faults real and faults imagined
The last embers of humanity
Consumed in misplaced bestial rage

Watch them fight
Rolling across the yard
In furious embraces locked
Fashioning sport for the watching world
Gladiator-like and self consuming anger
Unheeding jeers and catcalls
Something beyond humiliation and defeat
Come 
And watch 
These fallen stars

Anguish paralyses my heart
And yet not my hand
As I strike brother
And trample sister underfoot

‘Tis a sorry sight
For those as great
As these who Have Been
To descend to levels beneath 
The watching world

For these bars we’ve put up
Across our minds
Binding ourselves, restraining
Self chastising for daring to be
A star high above the watching world

Diving into this pain of penance
Atonement for the sake of normalcy
For being born a cut above the rest
Condemned to fail in curses whispered
Of an envious crown bating its breath
Praying even/ for the inevitable fall

Pity 
These shooting stars
Destined to go down fighting
Martyrs to the cause of failure
Here today, gone tomorrow
A flash in the pan/ across the horizon bright
The unforgettable forgotten
Lighting up memories 
Give us 
A permanent spot

From Hall of Fame to Wall of Shame
And back again
Hate not these fallen hapless stars/ jeer
All you like, but beware
Keep awake and watch for the night
When the watchers come back
To watch this watching world
And the stars come shining out again

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