Dying to Live

When I died inside

The deepest part of me grew cold

The warmth of life fled to the fringes

My core befell a dark tranquility

And I departed for a whisper of eternity

The void thickened with an unknown purpose

The black lump of residual nihility spoiled

Decay spread about my insides like slimy tendrils

And confused buds came into existence

And doom departed for a breath of eternity

Movement brought to pass an ember of hope

Deep within the barren wastelands of my soul

As the rotting of my internal death brought life

The blooming of the buds spread assiduous maggots

And solitude departed for a heartbeat of eternity

Death inspired new life, and a new manner of living

Fungus spread inside and filled everything unoccupied

Mushrooms twisted like tentacles swelling and filling

The fungal insurgents reached the brink of their enthrallment

And their spores departed my body for a blink of eternity

And spread to infect the dead like me, with a new manner of living

William Bartlett is a regular guy with a full-time life. He is happily married with a son and a daughter who are as nerdy as he is. He works as Assistant Editor for Quill & Crow Publishing House, where he manages and writes for the literary magazine, The Crow’s Quill. He is the author of The House of Blood & Gold and the dark poetry collection, Nameless Here For Evermore. His poetry is featured in Crow Calls Volumes II & III.