Laughing Man With Damaged Soul

The laughing man with damaged soul
Walked past me on a broken road
And in my youthful curios'ty
I asked him how he came to be
Upon the road where I found myself
Cold and alone, bereft of health
And on the verge of ending all
Grin gone, he said, "Heed my call,
Do not stay long upon this way
For soon enough there'll come a day
When someone will come into life
For whom you'll gladly put forth the strife
Of living, enduring, and hoping for--
But stay here and you'll end life poor.
Son," he went on, "make not my mistakes.
I threw her away for a life of fakes,
The smile my face wears is gilded and numb
And would I that my laugh could stay dumb,
My soul wants to cry while my face is alight
With memories of past times burning bright.
Leave now and live! I implore you to go!
Do not waste time in getting your show
Back on the road and living again
It gets harder to leave the more time you spend."
With that, he was gone, that shade of a man
Who showed me the way to wholeness again.
I left that day, that dangerous road
Where I met the laughing man with damaged soul.

--C.R.E.