The beast

It feels as if my insides are being consumed. Slowly being gnawed away from the deepest realms of my mind and body. A ravenous beast that feeds upon warmth and light can only leave behind cold and dark, and that is all that I have left. A fragile shell waiting to shatter with nothing more than a gentle breeze at my back to cause the first crack.

This beast calls my body home and calls me friend, when no one else does. But this friendship is a double-edged sword, laced with a poison tip. I feel a certain comfort having it with me but I know that a momentary slip while holding it will surely cause my death.

When it decides to take control for me, at times when I have no control, I feel a numbing armor envelop me like hardened steel wrapped tight around a block of ice, with me willingly trapped in the center. There I am; cold, distant, cutoff, and protected. But no light can penetrate this shield and there is no easy way to escape this fortress that I may no longer be a willing resident of. I am left to scream in silence and to breathe air, which I don’t believe is mine to take.

The friend who once gave me comfort, a place to escape to, has now become the warden in a prison that I am meant to die in. As I feel myself drifting further away in what seems like a paradoxical void, one that goes far deeper than my physical body could ever accommodate, I am left wishing that I still had the control to force my lips to smile, as I watch myself slip away forever.

Author's Note

I haven't written much in the way of poetry before and I have never really shared any of it. Everyone is free to comment on it as they see fit. If you like it, or hate it, or somewhere in between, it's all good. I am not trying to be something I am not.