Despite Still
Despite the shadows that carve a bitter hymn on the brittle edge of twilight,
you, the wanderer, clutch your tattered map, ink-stained with dreams that the sea refused to swallow.
Still, the sun hurls its molten crown across the ragged waves,
imperious, an emperor's decree to the restless tides.
Despite her silent wars, her fractured syllables scrawled on cracked mirrors,
she stands beneath the shivering sycamore,
where leaves once leapt like green confetti to the pulse of some forgotten spring.
Still, she sways in the echo of the dance, defiant,
a silhouette against the aubergine dusk.
You watch.
Yes, you, poised at the threshold of her undoing,
clutching a chalice filled with the venom of indifference.
The third act unfolds in the theater of the indifferent gods,
where irony wears the crown and hope is an interloper,
a child sneaking into a ball.
Despite the hurricane devouring the village of stars,
still, the sky weeps its meteor tears—
not in defeat but in rebellion,
flinging sparks of light into the yawning abyss.
He whispers to no one,
his words coiled like smoke tendrils that refuse to be swallowed by the void:
"Despite the graves that mock the living,
still, I will paint with the ashes of what could have been."
The canvas is torn, the colors anarchy,
and yet the masterpiece breathes.
Despite the ticking clock, each tock a guillotine's fall,
still, you trace your thumb across the ink-stained pages—
not for meaning but for proof that someone, somewhere, bled into the story.
She laughs, brittle as a cracked bell,
her breath a frost that numbs the truth:
"Despite your hands, calloused from holding on too long,
still, they cradle the shattered hourglass like a lover."
Despite the "despites,"
still, the "stills" linger like fireflies in the dark,
too fragile to outshine the night,
but too bold to fade without a fight.
And in this masquerade,
where time pirouettes between cruelty and mercy,
you, she, and he remain—
despite everything.
Still.

#PoetryCommunity #Defiance #Resilience #CreativeWriting #ModernPoetry #DynamicVerse #WritingInspiration #PoeticRebellion

Hello. Thanks for visiting. I’d love to hear your thoughts! What resonated with you in this piece? Drop a comment below and let’s start a conversation.