The next best thing

Dark shadows hug the ceiling
Like so many helium balloons
Carelessly released by a child
Reaching for the next best thing

Eventually they will fall weary
Cascading in monochrome misery
Suffocating my empty world
In languishing latex and rubber

And I sit on the cold floor waiting
Staring above at my timely demise
Finally coming to the realization
I am not the next best thing