Hope Lay Drowning

Hope lay drowning
and I -
without the will
to lift her out
let her gargle
in despair.

Faith hung dying
on gallows
bitter-strung
where her
legs kicked feebly
and I -

I did nothing.

For in my pain
and grief
and sorrow
I too lay
drowning
in twilight's
murky waters
and wrestled
with despair
that choking monster
that kills
unkindly too.

And love could
not rescue any
of us three -
for with the
daylight dawning
we had already
succumbed and
perished
in the night.

© Eleanor Clark
27 December 2013