I’ve built my castle in the quicksand
- a fortress abutting roaring seas -
and whether it’s ceaseless wave or tide,
they weather down this facade of me.
My colossus, my burg, my ruin,
- whose mending I will never complete -
I survey, in despair and dismay
from the rapidly decaying keep.
Rotten floorboards creak as I’m pacing,
- wearing my worries into their grain -
and all of my dreams are escaping
from their dungeon: my soul, and my pain.
So, I’m done being the architect
of a fate that I can never know.
I am just going to start living
and enjoy wherever this life goes.
s.p. burke is a retired intelligence analyst in the US Army. Follow him here. Listen to our Savage Wonder podcast episode with him here.
What’s happening at VetRep…
Listen to our latest episode with Lois Hicks-Wozniak on the Savage Wonder Podcast, where we interview incredibly talented musicians, artists, writers, and theater professionals, who also happen to be veterans.
Join us at the Parlor for a performance of Noel Coward’s Private Lives. Generally regarded as one of the most sophisticated, entertaining plays ever written, Private Lives is the story of Elyot and Amanda, once married and now honeymooning with new spouses at the same hotel, who meet by chance, and hilarity (as well as passion, anger, romance and aggravation) ensues. A uniquely humorous play, it has boasted numerous successful Broadway runs with stars like Coward himself, Laurence Olivier, Tallulah Bankhead, Gertrude Lawrence, Tammy Grimes, Richard Burton, and Elizabeth Taylor. The evening will open with veteran playwright Gavin Kayner's ten-minute play TWO PERSONS SINGULAR and then be followed by an intermission. Seating is limited and shows sell out fast, so get your tickets here.