Last Waltz In The Great Hall Poem by Robbie O'Ryan

Alone in agony, alone in a crowded room, alone always
Pain, despair and torment are constant companions
The dark dankness surrounds me, permeates my soul
Blackness, a cold ichor seeping from scars on my heart
Scars and wounds festering freshly, weeping woefully
Sickly moonbeams pierce shattered stained glass

Happy memories twist into nightmarish shadows
Stabbing black obsidian blades through white veils
Shredded tapestries adorn the mind's cold stony walls
A festive hall once, now a cathedral in homage to pain
Wailing; tears stream into cold pool puddled at foot
Screaming in vain at emptiness, black and complete

Sitting sadly, staring at walls once joyous and bright
Tattered fragments of once glittering memories
Littering the floor like rotting foul ticker tape
In the passing wake of a parade of ghoulish specters
Each tossing taunts, raking gaping tears and gashes
Defiling and despoiling this once sacred sanctuary

Here, we once danced magically to musical melodies
Gleeful laughs filled the air, smiling with bright eyes
Dancing in prismatic moonlight under starlit skies
Lost in love, boundless and beautiful, endless but not
Weaving tapestries of memories to decorate our hall
Symphonies and sonnets sung soaring in our honor

The music stopped, only chillingly cold quiet remains
A dancer departed, one remains dour and dejected
Orchestra's instruments abandoned in a heap
Poet's pens stilled and silent, piled under dust
The dance floor now dirty, deserted and desolate
No symphonies, sonnets, or dances only lonely despair

Days and nights pass, times procession relentless
In sunlight, laughter outside these walls mocks me
At night, phantoms of forgone evenings torture me
Under skies lit by our namesakes, Venus and Orion
Heavenly reminders of love eternal that could not be
A chase which claimed my heart, shattered my soul

Through tear blurred vision, a flicker of bright green
A single shamrock, tall and proud, sprouts and grows
From cracked stone floor, it flourishes, wet by tears
Reaching for sunbeams, stretching upward to light
Her symbol still standing vital, amidst spoils of heart
How does it live yet, in this dark place of pain?

In reverent honor, I stand and walk to the dance floor
Humming our song, I softly chance one final dance
Carefully treading as I twirl and circle the last clover
Under sky bound watchers in a light drizzle of rain
A dance to pay remembrance to all that once was
A dance to mourn stillborn dreams never to be