The two lines immediately below, (and repeated or paraphrased throughout), are from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot. These two lines have inspired all that flows and scuttles within.

"I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas."

My legacy found dark held by the depths
A riddled wraith of what was meant to be.

Those joyous youthful shouts of love and life
Concealed the truthfulness of destiny

And though I still work hard to find the light
I find its shades create an urgency

A hurried fear of what lurks in its gloom
My haste illuminates mortality

Is this the only light I am to find?
Impassioned, lonely, touched despondency

Or...

Is it the only light there is to find?
A reasoned flame of what is meant to be.

"I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas."

Even in the gloom of darkness yawning
When one is lost in thoughts of nevermore

If one discovers where the shadows sleep
A creviced lambency comes to the fore

Even in the grip of widespread whimsy
When one is lost in hopes of evermore

If one discovers where the shadows creep
A pockmarked, hazy earth comes to the fore

Even in the strength of public blessing
When one is lost in now forevermore

If one discovers where the shadows leap
A lonely, mindful flame comes to the fore

"I could have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas."

Instead I am a cinder all too brief
First flaming bright then dying dark and cold

Instead I am a song sung out of tune
A ballad left unfinished and untold

Instead I am a vulgar thought or deed
Beholden to my nature to uphold

Instead I am a question never solved
A riddle still too young yet now too old

Instead I am the madman on the fringe
An unseen fool left laughing uncontrolled

Instead I am a teardrop holding on
Not ready for the dust to re-enfold

"Instead I am a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas."