All your heroes will fail you
No matter how super they are.
Tremendous strength
Endurance and speed
Lapping the limits
Of human capacity
Decisively shattering
Known possibilities
May not be all
It’s cracked up to be.
If great power comes
With great responsibility
Are you sure your heroes
Are up to the task?
It’s exceedingly stressful
Dwelling in the shadow
Of presumed perfection
On the edge of a knife
In that arduous role
Of what you require from them.
All your heroes have weaknesses
Whether you deny it or not
Agonizing in anxiety
Increasingly strained
Inevitably exposing their inability
To become what you’ve decided they are.
In a realm
Of continuous mounting unreasonable demands
Who even needs Kryptonite?
Falling apart
Under duress
Life-altering decisions
In split-second durations
The lingering regret
Of every botched attempt.
All your heroes will burn out.
Like supernovas and falling stars
Succumbing to exhaustion
And escalating frustration,
Always just one step away,
From becoming your villain.
When filters lapse and words spill out
Or absent-minded actions
Falling outside the presence
Of your lofty expectations
Who will actually survive
The inferno of your disappointment?
Desperation can lead
To sinister possibilities
Bitterness has power too
At least for awhile
Devouring anger’s energy
With no satiation
Empty and shriveling up
From lack of love and sustenance.
All your heroes have failed you
Will fail you
Are failing you now
Whether you know it or not
Or don’t want to hear it
Or don’t believe it.
Your heroes will always fall short
So maybe give them a break.
We’re all living
Complicated missions
To this planet
To its people.
Heroes and villains
And all those under
That graphic blue sky
We long for acceptance
Strive to be valued
Including those up there
Tired of their towers
Longing to be seen
As simply human again.
Nicholas Yandell is a composer, who sometimes creates with words instead of sound. In those cases, he usually ends up with fiction and occasionally poetry. He also paints and draws, and often all these activities become combined, because they’re really not all that different from each other, and it’s all just art right?
When not working on creative projects, Nick works as a bookseller at Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, where he enjoys being surrounded by a wealth of knowledge, as well as working and interacting with creatively stimulating people. He has a website where he displays his creations; it’s nicholasyandell.com. Check it out!