Poem by Waqas Rabbani

Aimless 

I feel like my back is breaking
cracking like a mountain
whacked by a comet
slapped with lightning
my veins are fire

thoughts running a mile a minute
like a suicidal freight train
piloted by an AI
that can't figure out the trolley problem
that shreds all my darlings
with its wheels of progress
leaving my demons alive

being gnawed from the inside out
seeing everything I held sacred
lost, torn, broken or scattered to the wind
I'm aimless

Jobless, homeless, penniless
starving for food, purpose and affection equally
not getting anything
staring at my empty plate, nibbling on empty promises
with broken teeth
my shattered hopes and dreams
my knife and fork
bent and broken
as useless and aimless as me…

where do I go from here
in these torn shoes and blistered feet
I hear a messiah is giving a sermon on a mountain
in a strange land
I'll close my eyes and send my ghost over
perhaps in my next life, I'll have a purpose then
and be able to feed my heart, my stomach and my soul
and thrive

I just hope the earth isn't salted and barren
where my ghost takes seed
for an aimless eternity is better
than an aimless life to me.

Waqas Rabbani is a former Content Head at an advertising agency. He is a geek and loves all things techy. His work has appeared on many platforms, including New London Writers, Nation, Eye On Life Magazine, Green Ink Poetry, Clay Literary and NayaDaur.

---