We're Not in Peoria

To the ones who've gone:

We miss you.
We try to carry on,
the way you would.
We try to use our time wisely.
We try to do our best.
But we fail.

Because we are human and frail.

Our small minds,
So good at deception,
Rearranging everything,
Truth twisted up into fiction,
All of the things we hear and see.
Until nothing can be trusted.
Not you.
Not me.

We endure a life without you,
With fumbled decency,
Without dignity,
All in the name of love and honor,
But we fail.

Because we are human and frail.

Weak of mind,
Weak of nerve,
Lost our hearts and our verve,
Only to sadly plod,
To the grave,
Eventually.

And every day,
Afraid to say the words we really want to say:
"Come back!"
"I wish you were here."
"What am I supposed to do now?"
"How come I got so lucky?"
"I don't deserve this."

"I'm not worthy."
But we're not in Peoria.*

We are adrift,
Feeling lost and dying every day,
Wishing on a fiction that no ghost could come and save.
No,
We're lost,
On our own,
And if that soul would come back,
If they even could,
Guess what?
We'd be lost together!

But in that chaos and disorder,
There is a poignant thread,
Just enough to grasp ahold of and pull,
Before we're dead.
And every day,
We want to shout,
But instead,
We remain quiet,
Polite,
Frustrated.
We fail.

Because we are human and frail.

What is it about this world that's so damn maddening?
Each and every day everyone is more and more demanding,
Even ourselves,
Just like vampires,
We crave more just because it's more,
But that's less than we deserve.
In the end,
It's absurd.
And what do I mean by that?
I mean everything,
It's all so pointless,
Frankly,
To come straight to the point,
In a roundabout way,
Like dimples on a dog,
It's just ridiculous!

But don't be alarmed
Maybe that's just me.
I'm just talking to myself.
Sometimes I need a reminder.
We are human.
We are frail.

We fail.
8-26-19

*Is that really a Wayne's World reference in poem about mortality? Yes, it is.