When Hope is Lost

Concrete and steel
Join plate and bar,
Lock and key
To render him interned
Whose hope is lost,

Exiled from knowing
Dawn or dusk,
Sun or moon,
Wind or rain
— and aspiration;

For hope abandoned
By a weary heart
Extinguishes the
Precious light of life.
O, despairing soul,

As cold prison’s door
Closes with a
Resounding clang, and
Steel on steel rings a
Death knell for the soul.

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© 2019 Thomas B. Fideler