Blank Canvas Poem by Robert Burgan

If time truly does stand still then I'm frozen in a time period
Waiting for my feelings to thaw
I used to like it better that way
Frozen solid in a time of comfort
Simplicity is not your blank canvas
It's the ink splattered across absence
It's the link we create between hardship and love
It's not the end result
It's the practice
Get lost in what you live for
Indulge in the purpose you're meant to serve
People need help in the world around you
Desperately seeking one promising word

For me that word was "stay"
They countered it with "go"
That's when I felt the purpose bleed
I washed the blood away with a towel of stone
The stains remained
The fossilized pain etched in forever
Forever ingrained
Hoping the rain would wash it away
But I remained! ! Clenching my fists in a fit of rage
Pleading with the sun to keep me warm
Woke up on a gloomy day
The same
Give yourself to a cause
Anything at all to shake the gloom
Anything at all to remove your shortcomings
Everything inside of your worst possible mood
Then resume…
Resume…
Don't give up
Live up to those expectations whether anybody else believes you
You can keep it up
Become the ink on that blank canvas
Embrace the thaw when it melts your comfort
Become the sun on a gloomy day
Become yourself
You're the perfect version of the brightest summer