Betrayal — a poem

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

They say there’s a story in each of us — it’s not that story though — not the one with roots and bearded leaves, and lineaments up front
but the one you get to tell with a fat cigar much later, one you fell for in the dream, one you should have said no to.
These are the other ones, (there’s more than one of course) — the stories the mind conjures out of fear and longing and all the awkward corners of uncertainty to which we cleave.
It’s a betrayal you can’t undo, not now, the genocide of the Self eschewed. These are the stories that kill the solar glint in the hopeful eye, one day forcing you to your knees,
and finally you realize you chose a fate when you could have carved a hidden destiny, long since put to sleep.

© Simon Heathcote