I walk through life a thin noose around my neck, braided metal to thin to see but tight enough to take my breath away

This noose removes me from the joy of those around me it's hard to participate when you can't breathe.

Occasionally joy does find and the noose feels loose, but only for a fleeting moment.

The noose tightens once again tighter and tighter the pain brighter and brighter searing yet cold.

I can only wonder when the noose will finally close it's loop.

here I subsist trudging thru the cold dark,
numb to the world, numb to myself

flickering light finds me glowing
warming my frozen bones

with every sudden darkness the chill rushes back
each time the light goes out it takes a piece of my mind with it

as i reach toward the light to see why it flickers it moves away
just out of reach refusing my touch

my tired dry eyes blink and when they open the light is gone its warmth replaced by an even colder chill, the darkness even darker

I scream but there is no one to hear, did I scream if no one heard?
A sound reaches my ears like the wailing of a banshee,
my voice reflected upon the frozen landscape is the only thing to keep me company in this dark frozen waste.

My footholds broken.

a lost soul going thru the motions
on and on work and work
time to move on

who is that
a stranger yet so familiar
memories of a love forever lost

took the bait
hooked thru
blinded by a ghost of the past

darkness surrounds the oblivious soul
encroaching maddening little by little
darkness goes deeper and dark

twas but a demon in sheep's clothing
all feeling gone
the soul wanders lost

Bonds formed bring about a great happiness never known and always unique then strife battles hard fought anger grow bond restricting cracking breaking held together by only the most fragile strand... Then like the art of kintsugi we fill the cracks with golden memories growing through the brutality of battle we learn about one another and ourselves filled to the brim with regret for our foolishness we last down the Axe working together to fix this fragile crack filling it ever so carefully with more and more golden memories stronger memories bond renewed stronger  and with a devastating beauty  unbeknownst to us the uniques that made it beautiful made it stronger than we thought possible forever we will remember our beautiful scar

my strength is not physical my strength is rare you could walk by any day and never see it my strength shows when requirements are met the cost of my strength is the ever devouring stress my strength shows in struggles to aid those that i can strength of mind to solve the issue at hand strength of sight to show a different perspective in life see what others see expand your mind  and your soul to understand each other in a new way one much closer than technology can get us by simply understanding this is not easy this strength can cause you to feel old wounds once though closed but when you can come as close to truly understanding someone as possible sometimes its worth it

as my body lies breathing in deep slumber a dream arrives in the reaches of my mind i awake i look to the end of the bed a snake sits there staring back at me the silver serpent disappears beneath the sheet i felt not a thing it slithered and when i finally threw off that sheet which blocked my view of this serpentine intruder and stood i saw nothing i look down and a glimmer catches my eye the snake was around my waste biting its own tail then i awoke standing in bed puzzled at weather what i had just seen was real or just that of a dream