Poem: Hell Bound by Manuel Odeny

Do you know the hardest part?

When you’ve been through hell

and back?

It isn’t the yowls of wretched souls,

seeping your life.

Or the fiery flames,

charring your spirits.

Or the painful anguish,

of hopes in dash.

Or hollow dead eyes,

peering in a dark future.

Or dead, torn ear drums,

shattered by incessant screams-

waiting for a voice of hope.

For verily:

what more can life do

to a people who have been through hell,

and back?

But after many sojourns down this path,

I verily know when the hardest part beckons,

for even the Phantom and Count Dracula shudders:

for the hardest part

Is when at the end of the road a soul reaches,

and the familiar hell path again beckons.

When at rock bottom your dream hits,

with slow sickening hit, it thuds,

before giving way, floor opens:

TO HELL!