this shaken core
Juddering, jarring
Too-heavy-to-lift leaden weight
It drags,
And every step you take it grows and tears,
Until your arms lie bloody upon the ground
And you slump beaten,
While it taunts you, daring you to bear it with your battered stumps.
It laughs like a cruel fisherman
Relentlessly dragging silvery bait from the mouths of sharks
Until they can stand it no more and throw themselves blindly upon the shore.
It drips steadily like water on a stone,
And no matter how rocklike your patience and steadfastness,
You in time must be worn down into so much sand.
When that weight becomes too burdensome
Where do you seek respite?
Can you find a cave in which to slumber?
Or must you, like Sisyphus, forever toil to carry your burden up a neverending hill?
© mjc 07 February 2013