Tentacles.
Thousands of them.
Gripping me.
Tightening around me.
Can’t breathe.
But I’m still alive.
No.
I’m not alive of my own will.
I’m being kept alive.
To suffer.
Like a modern day Prometheus.
Except that no Hercules will ever step forth.
To free me from these binds.
Maybe I will suffer like this, for eternity.
My lungs will struggle for air.
My tongue for water.
And my eyes, my hollowed out eyes.
Will forever try to pierce the darkness.
In the search of a glimmer of light.

I'm there just where air's supposed to be
That place where no one can see
Where my smiles and tears don't make a
Penny's worth of difference
To any one around me

I'm there just where noise is supposed to be
That place where no one can hear
Where my laughter and screams of pain
Are drowned in the deafening roar
I'm there, standing next to you
Unkempt and unheard

I'm there just where darkness is
Where no light of the world
Can brighten up my day
I'm there standing behind of you
Just out of sight
You sense me,
You know I'm there

But you'll choose to ignore me
For who wants to be seen
Talking to a man
Who has no present, future or history....

When you're looking out the window
Of your bedroom at night
Looking into the stars
Into the boundless sea

Of lights you can't touch
Of colors you can't feel
You hold your hand out
You hope that you will reach

The expanse blue and white
Beyond the northern lights
Beyond what anyone has ever
Dared to be

You hope that you will someday
Catch a light in your hand
You will close your eyes
And hope against hope
That it doesn't flitter away
Like grains of sand
Like grains of sand

When you go to work in the morning
And it's autumn at its peak
Do you ever stop to pick up
A broken leaf?

I know it's dried and dead
Lying on a sea of red
But it was once a part
Of the sky

And then one day
When it saw you reaching out
It filled its heart with pain
It fell out to be a part of your life
It fell out because you had tried

Now it lies at your feet
Waiting for that one morning
When you will stop in your tracks
And bend down to recognise
The dream that you had once lost
When that fateful morning comes
All the leaves that you ignored
Will come to life once again

From the sea of red
A streak of green will emerge
People will thank you for ushering in spring
Until a few months pass
Till the novelty of it lasts
When winter will signal
It's time for you again
It's time for you again

To start reaching out to the expanse of blue
Above your head
It's just above your head.

Shame befall a man
Whose eyes do no tear
Whose lips do not utter
A word of comfort
For his fellow brother

What use is such manliness?
What end does this bravado meet?
When at the end of the day
By swallowing his tears
He allows his life to be consumed by grief?

Away with manliness, then
That shallow, heartless monster
That one-eyed, judge of men
Who cannot look beyond the tears
To the heart that lies within

The heart that is brave
The heart that has the courage
To stand in his court and say
I will cry for I have been hurt
You may do unto me what you may!