Standing here, now, at the apex of my brief existence,
A great void lies before me,
As dark and empty as the soulless casket I now inhabit.

I stand here because I can,
Because I am strong where others are not.
Because I have the will to see what all others are blinded by.
Because I am strong enough to see clearly through the darkness.
It is shame that blinds us.
And it is this same shame that protects us.
I see myself as I am,
Mortal
Flawed

And yet, through the void,
A silent spectre watches.
Studying me with the same fascination in which I study it,
Our eyes locked in an unnatural gaze.

We are both one and the same, and yet we are not.
Where I cry, he smiles.
Where I scream, he laughs.
Where I feel pain, he feels bliss.

Mistakes are made and written into your past
In an ink that cannot be removed
So clearly written and yet so clearly a stain
My book has been very well written,
The ink seeps from its very pages.
I stare at my nightmare,
I see his book is clean and crisp.
We are both one and the same, and yet we are not.

Anger fills my body,
Whether it be fuelled by jealousy or hate is unknown to me
I ****** myself at this haunting.
Knocking him to the floor
Fuelling my rage,
Each blow feeds my anger
Increasing its appetite.
I am lost to the void
Remorseless
Relentless
A slave to my raw emotion

When the hunger was satisfied
Control was returned to me
I stare into the eyes of the empty husk I left before me
Crippled by my own weakness
So lifeless
I see what should have been
I see my family, I see my children, I see love.
Tears begin to flow, from both me
And my lifeless spectre
The void seems darker now
We are both one and the same, and yet we are not.

And so here I stand
As The Man I Am
Over The Man I Could Have Been.