Fictional Nonfiction: Excerpts From a Nonexistent Work

"For what is life but a farce filled with tragedy and pain? We are born in pain, we live our lives in pain, and we die in pain. When pain is not physical, it is emotional or spiritual. Usually it is all of these. Pain is the only thing that remains constant in life, and we live the vast majority of our lives in a pitiful attempt to escape this one constant. In fact, eliminating the pain from our lives would (if it could be done) eliminate one of the things that make us human, a large part of our shared experiences as we play our parts in this tragedy we call life."

And, later...

"People say pain is not real because it is only in the mind; I say what is in the mind is far more real than anything we think is outside it."

-excerpts from "A Meditation on Pain", by Anthony Medssen

Poem: From An Old Man To The Woman He Was Meant To Marry

I was young once, the world was at my feet,
The throne was waiting, ready for me to take my seat,
I took the golden road, ran the never-ending wheel,
But your heart wasn't a commodity that I could buy or steal.


My life became consumed by success, excess, and pride,
I never had the humility to seek you, my one true bride.
You were ready, waiting always to become my queen,
But I was blind, distracted by my treasures’ golden sheen.


Silent serenades echo through my head,
Words we never spoke and things we never said.
Youthful fancies crumbled into the dusty past,
Memories of childish loves that never seemed to last.


Now I am old, the time has come to leave,
No one to remember me, no one here to grieve.
If only I had sought to find a love that's true,
To find the heart to say what I never said to you.