Soiled Towels Poem by Achim Wollscheid

Have you ever had the feeling that you couldn't do anything right?
No matter how hard you tried, everything always became a mess?
Not even one of those small messes that you can easily clean up,
but the kind that starts out round and spreads until its reach is infinite?
I can't dab this one with a towel and expect it to disappear.
Sometimes I look really close and don't see anything there,
I think the spot is clean. 'Finally! I've defeated the stain. That damned stain.'
Then it multiplies. I get upset. I grab another clean towel. I wipe the mess up.

It's still there, and it's still getting bigger.
My only gain is the addition to my pile of soiled towels.
Then it conceals me. I am depressed.
I shake my head at the treacherous puddle. I almost cry
because I've been disappointed once again, and what's worse, I've let someone down.
Someone who was cheering silently for me in the backdropp deserts me.
They say, 'what was I expecting? '
This kind of disappointment doesn't have an escape. It doesn't have a post- embrace.
A person with this yoke bears it alone, around their scrawny unfit neck.

But I don't think I'm alone. You've had this feeling, several times...haven't you?
Someone tell me 'amen', say 'I know how you feel'.
I'll take your half-heartedness as kind.
Tell me I'm not the only one who screws up all the time.
I won't inquire about what you say. I'll keep an open mind.