My soul divided.
Perfection
Distilled and ascended,
A pure and magnificent mist.
Avarice, Envy, Selfishness, and Apathy
Congealed, sloughed and sank.
Me, I was mostly Apathy.
I looked back
Over my dark shoulder as
My perfect self
Shimmered toward the light.
Impulsively, I called out
In a moment of pseudo compassion,
That was actually
Just another form of selfishness,
“Don’t trust the Oblivion of Heaven!”
“Stay where you are!”
My kind, gentle self did not hear,
Glided away,
And disappeared from my sight.
I skulked into Hell,
An abandoned street
Of ugly houses
In the stinking desert.
Yards nothing but hard dry soil,
Shot with dusty faded rocks.
Withered broken weeds
Poked from fissures in walkways,
Reminders of
The randomness of death,
Not able to remember that
They once carried life.
Each empty dreadful house
Shrouded in a coat of inches-thick,
Cracked, bleached pastel paint,
Layer-upon-layer.
“I deserve this,”
I commented to my bitter self
As I approached the home
Of my next eternity.
I didn’t care enough
To even wonder
Whether
I was also enjoying
Heaven.
Written by Kay Kole Leary