Fear and Trembling

Hope tests at the edge
of life like a foreign blade -
thumbing gingerly
and knowing
surety
comes too late.
Bloodswell
soon to follow
like wisdom,
regret,
scarring over
hearts
like moorless ships, floundering
on the edge
of a burning sea,
awaiting
the expected undertow,
welcome
to certain calamity,
if this
moving forward
is the cost
of knowing love.

[rewrite of an older piece, inspired by Small Time Shot Away by Massive Attack...]