The pain racks my body
Like thunder fractures the silence.
I long to separate and
observe from afar.
But pain claws me down
and laughs at my feeble attempt.
Like a demon from hell, it’s grip
is the grip of past sins.
The price is atonement for sins
yet committed.

What are my sins oh specter
that has command of my soul?
Did my desires overwhelm my needs?
Was my treatment of others
cruel or self serving? Did I
destroy rather than build?
Tell me, release me to the silence
and to eternal darkness.

But the pain persists.
The agony settles over me
like fog on the sea. I can’t even
plead, my voice is consumed.
The specter just laughs, “ your pain
is mine and I feed on your agony”.