The Empty Jar

His life is like an empty jar,
Nothing to fill it with joy and laughter.
He is as tired as he can be,
Nothing else to occupy him
But the memories of the past.

He is like an island.
The sea around him is rough and tormented
With his forgotten dreams.
There is no one to pull him up
Out of the black abyss.

The small, barren room
He calls his home
Is messy and lonely
Without the sound of
Laughter and conversation.

He wants nothing more
Than company and happiness,
But something sets him apart
And makes him shrink
With loneliness and resignation.

The words of the books
He reads to pass the time
Blur together with the rest of the days
Until everything seems like it is
Repeating. . .
Over
And
Over
And
Over.

His spine is as crooked as
A collapsing tower.
The weight of all of his years
On this Earth has caused the tower
To bend under the stress.

Sometimes his heart will soar
With new hope and possibilities,
But it will soon collapse
With the harsh reality
Of his world.

His name is Crooks.
He is stepped on and kicked
With no consideration.
He feels like he could disappear
And no one would notice
That he was gone.

There is nothing to fill his jar.
Why?

The Time of the Crossroad

Alone.
There is nothing around him
But empty space and time.
The clock moves slowly
And continues to tick,
Even though he feels like time has stopped.

The days go by
And his old self goes with them.
The remnants of his past life
Are gone.
The one thing he had
Disappeared with the crack of a gun.

He is old and withered
Like an old oak tree,
But his mind is still as sharp
As a tack.
He still has hopes, dreams
That he needs to come true.

He wants to have a purpose
To have something to work towards,
Even though he can’t work
As fast anymore.
He tries to keep up
With the younger ones,
But he falls short.

All he needs
Is a life of freedom,
Of long, sweltering days under the sun,
Of being able to
Stand on the land
That is truly his,
And no one else's.

He built a fortress
Around himself
That was almost impenetrable,
But when his lifelong best friend
Was truly gone,
The fortress was brought down
By the need for companionship.

His new friends were soon gone,
But they left a mark
On his heart
That couldn’t be removed
No matter how hard he tried
To forget their dreams
And hope for the future.

His name is Candy.
His future is uncertain now.
What will become of him?
He doesn’t know,
But he has the memories
Of his lost dreams
To occupy him
Until the time of the crossroad arrives.

The Stormy Sea

His life is turbulent
Like the rough sea
After a hurricane.
When the sky clears,
Another storm appears in the distance
Upon the horizon.

His best friend and companion
Relies on him
For everything.
The responsibility that he feels
For this individual
Weighs down on him.

The weight makes him
Want to collapse sometimes,
But he gets back up
Every time,
Even when the future
Seems bleak and uncertain.

The one thing that keeps him
Moving through the darkness
Is the possibility of
Their dream coming true,
To have a life
Of freedom and independence.

But when the unspeakable occurs,
When a storm arrives
That is so massive
That he cannot escape it,
He is forced to make
An unthinkable decision.

He was trapped in a cage
With no way out.
He only had one choice.
This inconceivable decision
Was the only way
To save the one he cared about the most.

He was in a maze
With no sense of direction.
Unsure of what to do
And where to go,
His decision provided his friend
With a rescue from suffering.

His name is George.
His sea has calmed,
But now he is alone.
He is a raft drifting along
With no real direction
And no true purpose.
What now?