Black and Grey (audio link to recorded reading)

There are no happy ever afters
on this side of Gloomy Hill.

Most smiles are feigned
as are the faulty souls
that look through squinted windows
at a world turned black and grey.

There is no joy,
but only sadness,
masked behind a cordial mien
that shouts conflicting creeds
in its undertones.

Laughter is a chorus
of broken glass
against entombed regrets
but I am the eye that sees
into the darkness.

There are no happy ever afters
in a world of broken things,

like the Styx, the river
gently bears dead dreams
through the gutter of ridicule
to an all-consuming cesspit
called the sea.

Clouds hang low and crows fly on,
into the bleakness that descends
like a beast upon this morn:
Another day has come and gone,
and there were no happy ever afters.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s19UPocYUJNV

About This Poem

Last Few Words: I posted an audio link!

Style/Type: Free verse

Review Request Direction: What did you think of my title?
How was my language use?
What did you think of the rhythm or pattern or pacing?

Review Request Intensity: I want the raw truth, feel free to knock me on my back

Editing Stage: Editing - rough draft

About the Author

Region, Country: Ghana, GHA

Favorite Poets: William Shakespeare, Lord Byron, John Keats, Percy Shelley, Oscar Wilde, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Henry Longfellow, William Yates, Ezra Pound, Sylvia Plath

Comments

mand

11 years 8 months ago

It was good to hear your voice!

I makes such a difference to the poem hearing your voice! This is a powerful poem - you look under the surface and into the soul of a society that is in conflict and full of mistrust and it's consequences - at the end of the day there is no happy ending. It's a society in which you can't truly be yourself.

( I hope I haven't misinterpited ).

This sad and honest truth is well highlighted in your poem - and nothing seems to change!

Love Mand xxxx

William Saint George

11 years 8 months ago

Spot on

with the interpretation! I was depressed when I wrote this, so my cynical hat was on.

I'm glad the reading helped. I hope more Neopoets take to recording on vocaroo more often. It's an awesome way to experience poetry. :)

Seren

11 years 8 months ago

It was lovely to hear the voice behind the words

I really enjoyed the dark side of this poem, there are so many great lines I really cant pick a favourite but I have to say your in the zone with your writing and the last poem and this ? has really impressed me keep up the good work :)

kind regards JC