Vanity Poem by Zvinodaishe Kusangaya

Vanity

Empty, like a blessing made to a nonexistent god,
Hopeless like a man who knows not his purpose.
I meagerly trudged the path that led me to nowhere,
My life an empty palette on which no artist dare paint.

Refreshing rays of sunlight did not move or stir me,
All attempts to resuscitate me were vain and futile.
I lay there monotonously without a thought or feeling,
Vanity had slain me and left my remains here to rot.

Her soft touch did not bring about a feeling within me,
It did not melt the ice that had become my helpless self.
Frozen and abandoned I waded the dark seas of despair,
Dear Vanity had left me here, left me here to surely die.

The true joy of a summer's breeze could not save me,
The feel of the sun and smell of roses were not salvation.
With hurt heavily upon my soul I destroyed these roses,
I cursed the poor old sun and condemned the soft breeze.

I viciously hiked the monstrous mountain of meaning,
I prayed that the peak would bring some sort of relief.
Each day I climbed but the peak got higher and higher,
Vanity had abducted Meaning and left me with Meaningless.

'I hate the dammed light! ' I screamed in sheer anguish,
'All it does is illuminate the emptiness and the agony.'
It was true the light really did make visible our ghosts,
It made so bright the dark monsters inside my closet.

Vanity stared solemnly at me and began to laugh loudly,
'You're a bloody fool for believing in so much! ' he mocked.
'Did you honestly believe that something would save you?
The emptiness can't be undone, you can't ever beat me! '

He stood there unmoving as if he had turned to stone,
His void eyes were firmly fixed upon my shaking person.
Bitterness neither blinked nor spoke a single word,
Just kept staring at me, the poor victim of his pal Vanity.

Whispers in the dark neither woke nor startled me,
Paralysis had run rampant upon my shaming body.
Sympathy and pity eluded those who stared upon me,
'He's living vainly, ' they said 'Poor hopeless wanderer.'

I began to shiver and tremble and scream of atrocities,
Sanity had packed his bags and fled my sinking ship.
I saw a guardian angel, Vanity, offer to protect me
So I held tightly as he spread his wings and we flew away.