Thurman P. Woodfork

REGRET

Awarded: August 29, 2003Steeped in sorrow, laced with tears,
Lacerated by lasting fears;
Phantoms ghosting through the night
Fill the heart with regret and fright.

Will this sorrow never end?
Won’t the wounds ever mend?
Damned forever to a life of sighs
Tortured memories and stifled cries.

How much longer must they pay?
Will these shadows forever stay
Grisly reminders ‘til life’s last day?
Is there no litany that I can say?

I absorb the words that turn me cold
Yet burn my heart and sear my soul;
I clasp my arms, swaying to and fro –
Why is it they must suffer so?

I cannot watch this anymore
And so, I start toward the door
And slowly move away from gloom
But pause a moment, still in the room.

With a hand half lifted in despair
I offer up a fervent prayer
For restless spirits moving there.
It hangs, forlorn, in the brooding air.