Photo by Nick Kenrick

I lie in the concrete box of my bedroom
inside the mausoleum of my childhood house
with no means of escape

My body is as heavy as a corpse
my gaze is mostly fixed, still I hear
the mocking flick of leaves on the asphalt outside

You come to visit with frozen smiles
I must endure your grasping, childish ramblings
as if my intellectual prowess is diminished

Little do you know the universe rains stars in my mind
as I lie here statue-like, unable to communicate,
how impending death has made me wiser than you

I suffer inside this mass of cells gifted to me at birth
striking out against the injustice of my trajectory, though
you’d only know it if you caught the sudden darkening of my eye

I don’t blame you for turning away
Much better to cherish beauty than pain
to think of the green of meadows after a night’s rain or children’s laughter

To pray that my fate won’t befall you