The End Is Never Nigh

• Angel Tagget, Grade 12
• Poetry
• 2021

Once will arrive when the end is nigh. It will take the train north from the green star, traverse down the coastline, it will walk the path of cobblestone where they will; nigh rests.
When the sun doesn't shine, when the moon disappears, when the cockerel cries it's last.
The end is never nigh.
When friends leave, when trees disappear, when even a glimpse of memory, of 'once', is lost.
The end is never nigh.
When scars and broken dreams arise, when others make the world feel alive once more. 'Once'.
The end is never nigh.
As the bones in my back crumble, my hands become shaky and my heart no longer thrums.
The end is never nigh.
May the rotting corpse, once of life, love, empathy and beauty be carried to its slumber. Alas, it will not- I will not. This flesh, these bones, this heart I wake and sew together, just to be ripped apart by you; once. 'Once.'
The words "I cannot" are incomprehensible to myself, much less you. So with a smile, pick up the bones, sew together the flesh, bring forth all of these to the table. And smile.
'The end is never nigh.'
Alas, the son hasn't shone, the moon long gone. The cockerel cried tongueless.
As friends are no more, 'once' plunged into forget-me-nots. I continue to believe, and as I breathe my last, a chorus of once, sung with a choir of forgotten we sing;
'The end is never nigh.'