• You amble down the long trodden path,
    The long dead leaves crackle in the wake of your gait.
    So many have traveled down this path,
    So many that are not here today.

    You cast everything away,
    For nothing.
    You trampled on the dreams,
    And lives of hundreds.

    You stumble upon a silver pool
    And as you gaze upon yourself,
    You see the guilt in those green eyes,
    The shame that wearies the pale, ashen face.

    So much shame from the memories
    That you try so hard to forget,
    But they are burned into your mind’s eye,
    There it sits, smoldering in your skull.

    After this long moment of self-evaluation,
    You finally drink.
    You peer over your cupped hands,
    You see the ash that has pervaded the water,
    Transmuted it to an evil shade of grey.
    That ash is you.
    The ash from all the bridges you burned,
    The ash from all the people you burned.

    You remember the screams
    And the cries.
    You did nothing,
    But initiate the spark,
    Coax the flame.
    Nothing, but walk away.

    You arise, even more shame upon those
    Weighed down shoulders
    From the memories that still haunt you,
    Even more guilt tossed on those green eyes.

    Hunched and stoic,
    You walk away from the
    Putrid, bubbling pool
    That was once pure,
    Was once beautiful.

    As you once were.