for** many years
I have dwelled
as a prisoner of
my own mind
constructing a realm
meant only to
possess nothing, but
my impenetrable cage
I was just
so very afraid
I hid myself
hid myself away
away from the
world that I
could have known
perhaps, the world
I should have
should have known...

forever to remain
camouflaged by the
by the dark
in shadows, deep
hidden from others
kept from the
the sunshine's light
kneeling in a
dark corner while
while I weep
...my rolling river's
pained, murky waters...

it was only
only no one
no one, but
myself and my
own heedless fears
I, a captive???
restrained and
tortured, tormented
by a being who
shows their face
a familiar face
every time I
I look into
her empty eyes
as they gaze
through abandoned,
forsaken abyss
into my own
where I stand
peering into my
my destructive mirror...

my innocence has
has been stolen
was ripped away
by the hand
the hand that
belongs to me
thrown into this
this strangling cage
this awful dungeon
a captive soul
made slave to
my very own
inner, quivering doubt
forced to wallow
in eternal blackness
just as one
one miserable, exhausted
sad and dying
one dying fool
... solely self-
-created void...

[ a prisoner who
who resides within
cold prison walls
in another's cell
that was made
built up around
the ground where
their feet, first, stood
fervently constructed
with very, very
very powerful
efficient hands... ]

eventually she'll meet
her cold death-bed
life's breath, wasted
wasted, worthlessly away
cruelty in her demise
the conclusion her
her own hands wrought
meticulously designed
her own personal
damnation portal
and just as her
world while living
she'd conquered nothing
nothing, but her
her dark, lonely tomb
airless wasteland
of timeless death...