One Day Closer Poem by Jeffrey Philip Clegg

As I take a funereal
look at my life
and how many times
the rug has been pulled out
from beneath my
rare periods of
seeming happiness,

I never forget that

I was born a loner.

I have long been held back by
a ball and chain of
sorrow, insecurity and shyness,
dragging it around like a
murky shadow.

My latest barrage of setbacks
seem permanent, insurmountable.

I see that the supposed happiness
was just an illusion,
an oasis,
in the desert,
that was only a mirage:

Mania.

However, I do,
having a dark sense of humor,
always look at the bright side:

Everyday I wake up,
still alone and despondent,

I am one day closer to...