“At the End of My Rope” by Robert D McBain
headboard or headstone
what does it matter
awakening onto this
suffering world brings a
maddening misery
day in day out the mind
bangs on brick walls
most benevolent gestures
are strokes of futility
rational discourse
drowned out by the din
of shrill demagogues
peaceable souls brought
to cowering terror
the hate gene
ascending to dominance
ethics befallen to
quaint antique status
one might just as well
give up on the night
pull the sod to the chin
sleep the sleep of forever
From my book Onionskin
Poesy plus Polemics 
Hauntingly good
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thanks kindly
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This is not the cynicism you have tagged it as…this is the state of the world we live in accurately captured within sublime words. Bloody shame though.
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I appreciate the affirmation
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A while ago a local church had a billboard outside that read “God is at the end of your rope”
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They were referring to the hangman’s rope. Just another way to threaten you with hellfire…
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I would respectfully disagree
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I wasn’t being serious. But it is another association that could be drawn
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interesting blend of idiom and sermon
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So well said, Paul. I hear it as a cry of dereliction.
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it’s a cry of some kind
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Yes. I hear the agony of abandonment, among other things.
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but hang in there…
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*smile*
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Now this piece i find interesting as too, it inlines within some of my theories..
ifinn those thoughts about conflicting interest, i may have miss judged prematurely..
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thanks, chris
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Simultaneously simple and intricate. Wonderful choice of words– it makes reading your work quite enjoyable even if it is on a topic that is as gloomy as this one.
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thank you for your generous comments
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Very eloquently written Paul. Profound in its sadness…
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I deeply appreciate your kind words
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For me, this poem re-enforces Pavlov Petrovich’s Theory of Learned Helplessness. It is morbid and miserable. But it is beautiful all the same.
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I’m not familiar with that work, but I appreciate your thoughtful comments
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This one’s beautiful and intense 🙂
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thank you most sincerely
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Unsettling, but very good.
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thanks kindly
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Thank you for your beautiful verse. Hauntingly beautiful!
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you have my deepest appreciation
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Sleep the sleep of forever 🙂 It’s interesting that I am reading these lovely words while I listening to Rilke’s Panther https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peu9eSOlJfU
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I adore rilke, but don’t speak german
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Me neither, but translations of Rilke’s works by Stephen Mitchell are great. And somebody told me that Panther in German sounds just like a Panther. I am not sure about that, but it sounds beautiful. 🙂
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Definitely feels like that sometimes but since life won’t grant us eternal sleep, may as well push on and blind thyself to the suffering by expending all energy on solutions rather than dwelling on the negative!! But this is a great poem.. I’d like to see an optimistic version 😉
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when I feel it, I’ll write it
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I wish that day upon you, and infinitely more like it, and I look forward to when you shall receive. You write great poetry btw
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thank you – you are very kind
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Wow! Intense, angry and awe-inspiring, Paul. Poetry at it’s darkest and most deserving. Most impressed, sir.
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many thanks, baldy
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