A Play

...inside your head...under your skin....where they don't belong...

I cannot escape the memory that is taunting
(seldom can the mouse escape a cat teasing.)

I am trapped somewhere, in here, still dazed
(and seldom does a rat find the exit from maze.)

I am confused, and searching for some light
(but morning will not rise before the night.)

I cannot discover the way past curtain drawn
(for it is always the darkest before the dawn.)

I keep constant watch for that which I yet lack
(why is it that I've still not finished the first act?)

I wait and anticipate that they will confide the lie
(is it possible, those actors, could be real life?)

Play begins, and I repeat the role marked “Me”
(memorize my lines should this truly be reality.)

I’m scared, and haunted, and scared, once again
(can the sound sleeper her nightmares escape?)

I’m tired of the guilt for what I cannot change
(does not the runner lament losing the race?)

I need to be released from this strangling hold
(it’s not like I am asking that life let me go.)

I want this mere memory to do as it was told
(leave me be, please leave me, leave me alone!)

Not I, nor it, nor you can ease this pain inside
(there should be none but me playing my mind.)