When we are fed with lies
We lose our taste for truth.
We growl and moan at our starving kin,
As we march so hungry into the grinding teeth of war.

Time well spent is good investment
Time wasted in good company
Is, thankfully, much the same.

Pretending to know where I am
While deeply lost in thought.
Holding on to what I can
And missing what I could not.

With trembling heart and flickering flame
I'm guided by worry and followed by shame.

With each creaking step, grievous mistake,
I lose a bit more of the courage I fake.

I curse my bravado for coercing me out!
As it's slowly and surely replaced by my doubt!

Shaped by shadow and forged in gloom,
A devil is born to fashion my doom!

Behind every corner, window, and wall,
The horror draws nearer with hungering call!

"Hear me Villian, make yourself known!"
Any fear I pray I've kept from my tone...

Oh what madness for the midnight mind!
To seek a beast I hope not to find!

A terror- I know it! I'm confident and sure!
The apex of fright, in essence so pure!

A lashing tongue and eyes in rows,
Razor sharp teeth to feed on my woes!

Legs much too many and mercies too few,
My advent of fate has come for its due!

I wish not to witness the monster I've made
So I blow out my candle... and welcome the shade.

To the darkened door I step
My invitation inevitable.
I wish to arrive fashionably late
And hope to be dressed for occasion.
I do not knock from fear of entry,
But rather that you won't be there to greet me.

Some puppeteers perform upon their own stage.
A theater made by and for themselves.
They enjoy an act of selfish design
Then bow to raucous applause
From hands pulled tight by string.