Chancre

We rot

and shed our ambitions

in mangy, leprous strings;

Flaking putrescent failure

couched in lofty dreams and pretty, painted sentiment.

Each successive step

yields a complimentary wound –

A festering chancre

which stains,

scars,

then fades with time.

Lost to memory,

Hidden from sight;

Covert

and waiting.

Insidious

Infectious

Pernicious