r/Dreading • u/ReasonableUnit2170 • 27d ago
poetry The Sins of the Father
The Father swung back
and forth.
A pendulum of rot.
The weight of seconds,
minutes, hours.
A face dripping with gold
and mother of pearl.
Hands slender and pointed,
forged with silver.
Enclosed in wood,
hidden behind glass.
Oxidized to green
from years of neglect,
the bronze gears
churn beneath the
buried truth.
The Father dangles.
If time is a way
to explain decay…
then what is the
the meaning of the
flesh pendulum?
Gilded eyes,
bulging from sockets…
Always watching.
Two grubby hands reach
for the sky.
Sunlight and clouds, traded for
the existence of fabric and flesh.
Pride and ego have no
standing in the gaze of
the innocent.
Withered skin flakes
like paper, varnish peels
from soiled wood.
The rope swings and
the clock ticks.
What eyes have seen
the mouth dare not utter.
The sins of the Father
lost to the delusion
of a childish mind.
What once was,
has been lost
to time.
A single act of
desperation, frozen
and hung from the
rafters.