• bright lights flicker on in the persistent, numbing darkness
    letting off white-colored relief in the subtle form of fluorescence
    the bulb burns softly in its holster, a tiny sun, bursting with energy,
    it spreads its warmth around the otherwise damp, dingy room I reside in

    my eyes open, like sunflowers in spring, they are attracted by the light,
    and they search the lamp for some sort of solace,
    as if that small light can save someone as conflicted as I am
    I blink, the traces of the light make constellations behind my eyelids,
    my mind is the ever-searching astrologist, deciphering the signs,
    and realizing, with a defeated sigh, that the stars have sided against me,
    a star-crossed lover, only looking for a friend

    but I am forsaken, taken from the few things I love
    the fates twisting my string into a knot, and letting it go as it will
    leaving me alone in this lion's den, with no power, supreme or otherwise, to call an ally
    leaving me with only a wooden toy sword to hold against my starved and craving fears,
    their eyes devouring me before they even make a move, longing for the meal i will inevitably become
    to them, the meal is all that matters, devouring my determination and preying on my cowardice

    the meal might as well be served

    I flee the den, the crevice inside my mind, where only the most daring of thoughts go,
    and surrender myself to the opportunity to survive
    to me, my own piece of victory is bittersweet.
    I have escaped the lions, those sinful beasts,
    only to have plunged headfirst into reality, a much darker place than even i could assume
    the dreams have gone, and with it, the nightmares

    I open my eyes to find an inhospitable world
    a world plagued by overwhelming parasites
    they destroy the world in which they live
    desperate to believe in anything
    they cling to the decaying stories about bones long buried and lives long gone
    hoping for a sense of hope, a sense that they can become more than what they are,
    more than what they are condemned to be
    it is a futile attempt
    but it's the only thing we have to live for