In the beginning

There was only an end

Only the means

That led to descent

A thousand scenes

I don't pretend

I don't long to forget

Because I can't defend



All the paths that we walked

Hand in warm hand

All the prey that we stalked

Appeasing one demand

All the hours we clocked

Working in the sand

The world we mocked

The things we had planned



I’ve had to accept

we deserved our defeat

Our hair unkempt

Sleeping in the street

We weren’t exempt

Bruised hands down to feet

I know now we aren't meant

to live such deceit



And here at the end

Once again we begin

I repay what you lent

you pay for each sin

I know where you went

you know that I'm pinned

spirit crushed and spent

and I still can't give in.



You learned to repent

I learned how to win

Only an end.

A teasingly deceptive title, as it is in the end, only a beginning.
Initially this appears to be about resignation to loss, but an underlying darker and more bitter theme emerges.
The ‘end in beginning’ statement is unpacked gradually, and in pencil feint lines, as a story, though there is not enough specific detail to engage us, and the demands of a rhyme scheme pull in some strange formations: ‘The hours we clocked’ seems out of place. ‘working in the sand’ is unexplained and so loses the reader.
Reference to stalking prey suggests that the relationship had a nefarious purpose, and could have been pursued.
In the third stanza we get more description, with an image of the state ‘we’ were reduced to, and hints at more plot with the term ‘deceit’. In the fourth are the terms of parting, reparation, where ‘they’ are now, but ‘I can’t give in’ contradicts the resignation at the start, and the last two lines have a suggestion of triumph. Someone has gained from what sounds a nasty experience, and may repeat it.
What is it about? Although there is no direct reference to the popular theme of vampires, there is a hint of it here. An end in which there is a beginning, stalking prey and winning, appeasing a demand, deceit, and the sense that in spite of being ‘pinned, spirit crushed and spent’ the speaker springs up in the last line as a winner.
Well, Theo, that is what I found in your words. I would say that more concrete images, details as in the third stanza running throughout, losing ‘clocked’ and explaining or losing the sand; that kind of change might make this into a gothic tale to grab readers.

thank you for your comments.... here's an alternative version that drops clocked and repurposes sand... is this more clear?

-----------------------------


In the beginning

There was only an end

Only the means

That led to descent

A thousand scenes

I don't pretend

I don't long to forget

Because I can't defend


All the paths that we walked

Hand in warm hand

All the prey that we stalked

Appeasing our one demand

All the hours we talked

china white flowing like sand

The world we mocked

The things we had planned



I’ve had to accept

we deserved our defeat

Our hair unkempt

Sleeping in the street

We weren’t exempt

Bruised hands down to feet

I know now we aren't meant

to live such deceit



And here at the end

Once again we begin

I repay what you lent

you pay for each sin

I know where you went

you know that I'm pinned

spirit crushed and spent

and I still can't give in.



You learned to repent

I learned how to win