Open and wide, my orbs hurt they.
Blinking in gloom, hackneyed but nay.
My thoughts jumbled but bright as day,
For all I did is not but lay.

Early hours, slothful I am.
From rise of dawn, I'm all but calm.
My work is done, but all is sham.
For awake I am to all that's gam.

Wistful and sad throughout my being,
Odious I am to all but keen,
I none but wish to make it lin.
All contempt inferior to the insomniac!

She called herself a fighter,
Yet, there was no victory assigned
to her non-existent list of battles.
What is in a fighter if not for the
monuments dedicated to their names?

She called herself a survivor,
Yet, she had never had an
encounter with the entity called death.
What is in a survivor if not for the endless
bruises and scars that they endured?

Oh she was! Her fights, much more
brutal than battles won by warriors.
And her scars, deeper -though unseen-
than that of a knight. And they asked:
'What is in a fighter if not for a girl that
overcame her translucent battles?'

I knew all about your heart.
That beat with love and endless mirth,
and so full of life, it felt no gloom.
But what do I remember?
I remember the day it stopped.

I knew all about your warmth.
With hugs that healed all of my hurts,
and arms that barred all of my fears.
But what do I remember?
I remember how cold and still you lay.

Your words resound around my head.
Too little I was for the wisdom you shared
That only made sense long after you left.
And what do I remember?
I remember the day you died.

Like a soundless rain that fell in drops,
I shed my tears beneath a mask.
And behind a wall that hid my fears,
I made a vow to make it strong.
How else can my soul be safe,
if there's no mask to hide it all?

Brick by brick, through love and pain,
I saw it's use, and I saw it's bane.
For in love, the lies were wrought.
And in pain, they were none but shunned.
Then how else can my heart be safe,
if the mask I don is all but vague?

And then it came! As swift and deaf,
as the nightly wind. It wrought it's way
through the layers I built. Sham!
Brick by brick, the wall came down.
By love and pain, I learnt of life.
And the mask I wore, in pieces it fell.