The ashes are so plentiful they fill the earth and sky,
I cannot reach the surface, though I try and try and try,
Oh, how I wish to travel back and choose another door,
But I can only look ahead and see the things in store.

The past was dark and dreary and the future is the same,
I try to point at others, but there’s only me to blame,
I wouldn’t stop to listen when they told me I was wrong,
So now I’m sifting ashes as I listen to their song.

My life is full of ashes of the future and the past,
And though I try to brush them off, I know the die is cast,
Although the Phoenix rises, it will never rise for me,
I’ll be the person who I was and who I’ll always be.

Then one day as I leave this life and ashes I become,
I’ll float up to the heavens and I’ll block the light of sun,
Then all will know the way it was, and for eternity,
I’ll pay for all my actions, buried deep in ash debris.

This post was originally published on Your Poems, Your Stories at Sifting Ashes.