It

It grows beneath the surface It grows Behind the curtain It grows And when it is seen It’s too late It’s there to stay It is like a gas Hovering Following Enveloping those In its Smokey tendrils Entrapping Clinging like brambles To clothes It coils itself Around Tighter and tighter It sits By the ear And hisses Cruel music To those unaware Invisible It follows Infecting the world With its murky gloom Making the future black The world stops turning Reverts to standing still And it clings still Holding in an unloving embrace It’s like an impenetrable bubble Of pain Hatred reverberating back inside While kindness sits beyond its walls Kindness does not wait It sits for only a while Then leaves Leaves you with it Clawing for freedom Does not work For it infects deep It becomes you Escape can only come From the outside But the world is blind to it So we sit Afraid to make a sound And it grows bigger ‘Tell there is no telling The difference between you And it Until suddenly It Fades Gone for good? Not likely It always returns It’s just away Visiting family Or taking a break But it’s enough Long enough Long enough to speak Long enough for the world to hear you Long enough to be ready When it comes back Maybe you won’t be unarmed Maybe you won’t be alone But only if you speak