In The End

And in the end we never knew our names, restless and wondering we looked for a label, we looked for a tag, even if we could only get one on our toe.
In the end we never knew what to say, so we stuck to those three words, we never knew anything else to say, or completely what we meant, but they were classics, and classics never go out of style.

Somewhere down the line we realized that we didn’t know anyone around us, and at that moment the world felt so big; with child eyes we were searching for the face that looked the kindest.
We didn’t know who they were, but in retrospect we would tell ourselves that they were not so beautiful on the inside.
We didn’t know that smiles were fronts, and that makeup was a mask, and we surely didn’t know what dishonesty was; perhaps because we never understood honesty, or maybe we never knew to appreciate it.

In the end life dazzled us, with its gritty truths, and polished lies.
Everything we thought we understood was just another form of innocence, and though we opened our eyes wider, hoping to see more of the world, the scorching sun blinded us, and we struggled in vain.

Through it all, the dirt and the rain, we pushed forward.
We didn’t know that we were born to one day die, and we hardly understood death.
It was always those Fire Fighter dreams, and Princess Fantasies; we all thought we would be who we wanted to be; Superheroes, but we never understood that we could one day be the Villain.
We never knew how easily we could fall.

As we looked high into the sky, we spotted that rickety old Life Guard chair, ridiculously high and spindly, we thought “Poor Boy, stuck up so high dreaming, he never bought the air rights he’ll fall straight down”.
None of us are prepared to catch him.
None of us will be there when he falls.

In the end the world came to a shattering stop.
I can still hear the sirens, and I can still smell the soot from the ashes of those meaningless tokens we held dear.
And though the earth shattered, I can still feel myself spinning; spinning, ever spinning, but now I just don’t know what for.

As we all cracked in two, splitting from our man-made seems, I saw what we all looked like on the inside, and tt was never beautiful.
It was red, and it was sticky, and it smeared, and stained; and all I could think about was that life was not any different.
I saw the world turn itself out, I saw skin invert, and skeletons embrace, and it didn’t seem weird to me.
In the end with my head still spinning, I felt complete.
Now that the world was just as fractured, and breathless as me, I finally felt whole.

And in the end, as I took my final steps, I felt alive.
For the first time not doubting what I saw, because it was so colorful, so fantastic, I couldn’t look away.
Like a train wreck, the world came to a screeching halt, just before it combusts, and I was showered with the hottest sparks ever created, sparks of imagination, and sparks of frustration all flowing together to create a downpour of pure honesty.
Honesty that burnt right through my flesh, like I was nothing, and in the end with the ash settling to the ground, with the world no longer in spin, and the blood smear of life turned outward, and inward, twisted, and convulsing, I realized I was exactly that.

And in the end, with a pain so great I was forced to curve my lips into a grin; jaw clenched so tight surely my teeth would shatter.
I felt the skin of my back grow tight as my spine lashed out of me like the transformation from Man to Beast, and if ever I wondered what it was like to stare down a beating heart, I kurbed my curiosity tonight, as my skeleton broke free from my man-made restraints, once called a body.
I saw what I was; and that was flesh and bone.
With life as I knew it crashing down around me, I took that moment to notice the delicate structure of my veins, and muscles stretched over whatever it was that I was made of.
It was not so fantastic, but gruesome, and I wondered why we thought ourselves to be so completely thrilling of a creature, when we were all made of the same thing.

I watched my skin slide down me like, your jeans would before bed, and I was going to bed. I was ready to sleep, but for the first time, so was everything else.

Soon enough, and in the end the sirens died down, as the Famous Living Dead came to their final tumbling stop, but this time- even with the gruesome scene- it was done with more grace than ever before.
This time you were falling for a reason, this time we were falling together.

With the entire world looking like a battle field, I told myself it was mind over matter.
The world may look like a violent, and chaotic mess of waste, and ash, but this time- this time it was for a reason.
We wore out our welcome, and in the end we all played The Game.
Did you really think you would never make it to the Finish Line?

Look up, and spot that rickety old Life Guard chair, perched up so high, still ridiculously high, and ever spindly. That boy is still up there dreaming, but this time he is dreaming up a new creation. He just watched the Crash Test Dummies break and now? Well now he can create the final product.