< Back to Art Gallery

AUTHORED BY JUSTIN RUEB

UNTITLED

As I heave my broad shoulders, head to the sky,
A silent soft tear falls from my eye.

My shoulders curve,
Feeling so much weight.

My muscles strain,
My sturdy legs shake.

I cry out for help year after year,
Yet my pleas, to the one, fall on deaf ears.

My shoulders then creak,
With the cracking of bone.

And I realize that I’m,
In the world alone.

But is this the world,
This dismal place?

Where my mind lies in shadow,
And nightmare, and hate.

Is this the real world,
This merciless void?

Where I sit helpless and watch,
My mind destroyed?

If this was only a dream,
Could I feel such pain?

Like swarms of bees,
Raging through my veins?

If I died today,
Would anyone care?

How could they, I’m alone, no one is there.

My shoulders heave,
Because they must.

The tear hits the ground,
To be swallowed by dust…

I try to buck the large burdens,
And cry out in pain.

For they’re hooked through my flesh,
My struggles are vain.

I cannot escape,
There’s nowhere to go.

I’m going insane, so slowly,
I know.

Black images swirl
and creep through my mind.

Of torture and mayhem,
Revenge so divine.

My hatred has life,
My fury’s a roar.

Revenge is my mentor,
My rage is my sword.

I buck off a burden,
Its hooks rip my flesh.

Two more take its place,
Is this a test?

What monster, what coward,
Could devise such a thing?

They wear badges and tools,
Says my mind’s whisperings.

They strut and they smirk,
But monsters they be.

As demons their goal,
Is to taunt and break me.

“But who are you”, I say,
“If you’re not me?”

“I’m the Monster in you,
I’m your destiny.”

I then heard a giggle,
And whispery laugh.

Though it came from me,
My mind had snapped.

I felt my lips move,
And then realized,
I now saw the world,
Through the monster’s eyes.

Not those of my pain,
But the one in me.

I cried out once more,
And fell to the knee.

I pushed the monster,
Out from my mind.

While regaining my feet,
Yet so very tired.

The monster’s still there, I know,
Biding time.

I hear its footsteps, in the dark of my mind.

As my burdens are borne,
My feet sink in sand.

Then up to my knees,
Being buried so fast.

My burdens increase,
My neck muscles strain.

I cry out for help,
Yet again in vain.

Being crushed on top,
And buried below.

The end is so near, I feel it,

I know.

I try to be stoic, brave,
Without fear.

Resigned that the time,
Of the monster is near.

My last human act is,
One last tear.

For what could have been,
What I know is near.

My last human sound,
Is one last plea.

“Why God have you allowed this,
To happen to me?”

That last cry, again,
Falling on deaf ears.

But of course, I’m alone,
There’s nobody here.