Onward, upward, and ever forward . . .

the urge to express is a stifling state
for surge and regress is an endless affair
the purge of duress is a trifling fate
emerge nonetheless on the edge of despair

endlessly sentenced by sentences scrawled
events that incense rend us bent and appalled
senselessly sent hence past tenses recalled
relenting dissenting in stutters and drawled

despite all the effort one takes otherwise
to write what went wrong and define the demise
shed light on the real and reveal the disguise
contrite we may be no reprieve will arise

accounting the numbers all tally a numbing
surmounting beneath acts relieving upstage
recounting to stall some finale succumbing
amounting to nothing but words on a page

-(mt)