So now I live inside
someone I do not recognize,
when I capture my reflection
from the corner of my eyes.

I am forced to walk their line,
to pay homage to their shrine,
to be patient with the way it is
while I'm screaming in my mind.

The pressure from the outside,
the forces from within,
pulling, stretching, twisting, gnawing,
crawling in my skin.

Do I carry on this fool's facade,
this walking contradiction?
Or turn and burn the whole world down,
release the inner friction.

Black and white is all I see.
My mind is blank and sterilized.
These choices linger, haunting me,
so I do nothing, paralyzed.

As I sit still, the world goes by,
I'm just going through the motions.
"Smile and nod." I'm lost, again,
drowning in the oceans.