It's always like this,
One moment I'm listening
and the next
I miss what was being said
because the voices booming in my head
and taken me to that other place.

Up on the dais I am superman.

I can do it all
enthrall the audience
with my eloquence
but near to you I am struck dumb
numbed by the words that you speak.

I am weak
this I know
and that's why I go to that other place
but I carry your face in a cup
and drink it up
when I feel lonely.

If only I was filled with the will to be strong
I could hang on longer
Assuage my hunger.

On the dais the voices remain in my head
and listen to me
and to what I have said.
Why don't you?

One day I will hear
those words in my ear
and those voices I fear will leave me alone
until then,
I'm on my own and only I can understand
the man upon the stage
who stares into the distance
with a look set on his face
of another place.