Something new...

So I have clearly failed at the novel challenge, and I have no illusions of getting into The Foretold heavily enough to continue it (not to say that I'm abandoning it of course!). So while I will update as I progress, I am going to use this blog for other miscellaneous writings. Short stories that I'm working on, story concepts that I'm playing with, and some poetry.

I haven't had a medium lately for sharing my work, and I miss it. So, vain as it is, I'm going to start showing off my work for anybody that happens to stop by. To start it all off, a poem I wrote a couple weeks ago. I may eventually decide to convert it to a rhyme scheme, but for now, this is "Rags."


Wandering through a broken city,
Wearing these rags for clothes.
I’m tired of this,
I want something more.


This life is not for me.
I don’t want to live in this hovel anymore.
I know there’s something better than this,
I’ve heard rumors of a different life,
They say it’s wrong,
But how can this be right?

Wait,
There’s something in the air.
Something… Different.

There she is!
She’s… Amazing!
Glorious!
Such extravagant clothing,
I can’t let her see me like this!
She’d think me disgusting!

She spotted me!
And she’s… beckoning me.
She wants me to come with her?
I come to her straightaway,
She smiles and speaks to me,
“Let’s get you some new clothes.”

She takes my hand and leads me out of the broken city,
And into a city of light.
Everywhere there are people like her,
All smiling and greeting me.

She leads me into a shop,
And there I am given- Given!- a new set of clothes,
Shining and glorious like hers.
She leads me out again,
This time to a barber,
Who grooms me into the same glory as everyone else.

But something smells…
Off…

We leave the barber,
Dressed in our glorious clothes,
And follow the crowds to an immaculate ball.
As far as I can see there are more and more fantastical beings.

But something still feels…
Wrong…

The dancing begins,
And everyone is swept up in the gaiety of it all.
I join as well,
But my smile feels faked.
Something… stinks.

I continue along with everyone else,
Doing my best to act happy,
But my skin feels grimy,
Slimy.

Everywhere I look,
Everybody looks as amazing as ever,
But the smell of sweat and sewage permeates the air.
My skin is crawling,
I can’t see anything wrong,
But I feel as if I am writhing in the gutter.

Something is very wrong,
But nobody else seems to notice.
I wander aimlessly through the crowd,
Searching for something that I cannot name.

Then I sight something odd.
A man,
A homeless man,
Clothed in rags,
Standing at the edge of the crowd,
Searching.

There is a scent drifting from him.
He smells…
Clean.

I don’t understand,
But I find myself walking towards him.
Slowly at first, but soon with a steady stride.

Nobody else seems to notice him,
But I can hardly see anything else.
Finally his roving gaze stops.
He sees me.
He speaks, somehow over the crowd but quietly,
His words to me and for me.

“You are meant for more than this.”

My knees buckle,
And I hit the grimy floor with tears streaming.
I look around and see nothing but filth,
The once glorious beings are crawling in the mud,
Oblivious to their depravity.

I look back to the man,
No longer clothed in rags,
But pure light.
What I thought was glorious before pales before his magnificence.

I look at myself,
My filth,
My true rags,
He meets my eyes,
And he smiles at me.
He reaches out to me
And replaces my rags with robes of light.
And I leave that broken city,
And return home to the city of light with my Father.

Where I belong.