The sands of the hourglass

count down their demise

as the sea of sameness

gets beached on the sands

where all of their hopes

lay rock-strewn and sun-scathed

because the two sticks they have left

won't make fire and they need fire

to light their last words up

and let them fly

before we all figure out

that they were only ash to begin with

a remnant of something someone else did

and there they lay, dusty ember

about to be put out forever