Nil Desperandum

Day 10, PAD Challenge. Prompt: A "never again" poem.

never, again, look into the distance
and see--nothing

there is always--something, however small,
microscopic, that wants your

brushstroke touch, in spite of their
unknowing eyes, blinkered,

the tongues dumb with fear, the
staccato fingers on the thigh,

nil desperandum, never, never
draw the shades down so fully

you cannot still see a sliver of
the sun, the common gold bar,

some currency to hold in your heart
when all else is bankrupt, a string

of goose eggs fading into infinity