i did not
choose
to come here

did i

compelled
subjugated
enslaved

free will
is only a lullaby
that i whisper
in the dark

as i drift asleep

confined
caged
imprisoned

with no walls
in sight

most deserve
their inevitable
destination

may you arrive
eyelids peeled back
choking
on your own vomit

the worms won’t mind
i promise

too stupid
to find the exit

too weak
to care

i sit
in a smear of shit
and piss and blood

the remains
of what was once good
and pure and wholesome

my tears
salting
fresh wounds

i know that you can smell it
seasoned to perfection now
go ahead
eat up

why
she shrieks
into the blackness
as life begins to roll from her lips
like a whisper
cold silence returns
an ancient echo
of her empty beginnings

these tears cross my cheeks
in a familiar path
but when i taste them
i am only reminded of joy
long faded
it’s absense
now fuel
for the licking flames

embrace me deeply

that your breath is drawn
and held

like ice
at long last

and watch
as the warmth fades

into finality

it sits perched

a vulture
stretching meat

long dried

and rotting
from ancient bones

with beak

as if it were
an eagle’s

welcome
to the darkness
where light

is born

to be swallowed whole
like a diseased rat
by a snake
with two heads
and no eyes

while bullets
whizz past
we gather
holding hands
chanting
“freedom and justice for all”
dancing
and
laughing
like hyenas
around a mangled corpse

this

is love

to fade

finally

from madness
and insecurity

into the always
and forever

dark