Poetic Tragedy

I’ve had this phrase going in circles in my head all day today. I couldn’t pin point where I heard it, but it seemed fitting to how I felt.  The song says, “The cup is not half empty as pessimists say. As far as he's sees, nothing's left in the cup. A whole cup full of nothing for him to indulge”

 Now I’m not sure if this phrase is used in any other way, if this song title came from somewhere else, but it hunts me today. I kept repeating it, thinking of it’s meaning, wanting to describe it.

What is poetic tragedy to me? It is Dustin not recuperating his memory. It is Jake finding Kate dead on their bed. It is Jessica’s son dying only a few days after being born.  It’s finding what you have always desired and discovering you never really wanted it at all. It isn’t irony, it isn’t sarcasm, it is beautiful, meaningless heartbreak that carries with it change. Does that even make sense?

It is the bittersweet ending that feels right but just too sad. It is losing your best friend to overdose and then dosing yourself up because you’re sad. It’s a spiral that is out of control, life slipping through your hands like water. Tears stuck in your throat, feelings you can’t express, hands grasping for smoke. Poetic tragedy is the ending we all want and fear.

Jack finding out his mother passed away, the pain he feels at that moment, the despair of never telling her everything he wanted to, of saying no to seeing her, and ignoring her phone calls. It is the call that isn’t answered, the knock of death at your door when you finally learn how to breathe again.

Poetic tragedy is having the time to do what you always wished you could, and fearing failure, fearing so much that you just can’t do it. You can’t, because your stuck, knee deep in fear, slow sluggish.

"Poetic Tragedy"

The cup is not half empty as pessimists say
As far as he's sees, nothing's left in the cup
A whole cup full of nothing for him to indulge
Since the voice of ambition has long since been shut up

A singer, a writer, he's not dreaming now of going nowhere
He gave heed to nothing, and all that he was....
Is just a tragedy

So he voyages in circles
Succeeds getting nowhere
And submits to the substance
That first got him there

Then in violent, frustration, he cries out to God or just no one
Is there a point to this madness and all that he was....
Is just a tragedy

He feels alone
His heart in his hand
He's alone
He feels alone
I feel....

Then on that last day he breaks
And he stood tall
And he yelled... and he takes his life

By: The Used, 2002

It’s the breakdown… the scream into the empty sky.