What Happens Next

Jun 12, 2025

As tricks of shadow and light
conspire to shatter peace,

take whatever comfort you will
in knowing I’ve no interest
in righteousness as
means to its own end.

I seek neither the high road
nor some semblance of justice

– but only my own self-serving
sense of equanimity
as I burn this whole thing down

leaving only a ruin
and this total peace.

Though I greatly prefer harmony,
I won’t hesitate to meet you
where you bring it

– the malice carried to my doorstep
will be escorted to the exit
by my own bile and bitters.

By the end of the day,
you best believe my ledgers
will be balanced,

even if there’s nothing left,
and the scales themselves are
rendered into blackened soot
upon this scorched earth.

For any who dares touch me
with wickedness of heart,

do not be astonished by
whatever horrors that come
blooming from your vile seed.

Oh, I’m not known for wickedness
– but I’ve heard I’m a quick study,

and isn’t that inconvenient truth
what disquiets you the most?

And why would you ever think
I’d choose the light when
I was born in so much less than this,

denied my full measure of sunlight
by rules designed to keep me sidelined
while others harvest where I tilled,

forced to smile through my own oppression
through twilit dawns of a new day
I’m never guaranteed to see?

Oh, I’ll choose the warm glow
of an easy Sunday morning,

but if a skosh more darkness
jumps from the shadow to meet me,

I shall embrace it
with all the fury
my unspent rage can muster,

until all that remains of us
are cinders, ash, and
a silent peace

to be enjoyed by
not even a single dove.

One way or another,
the calm will come.

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