The Sad Zoo
3 January 2012
For a friend in need who felt no one could understand him...
I dreamt I was falling
Through black clouds and lightning
The wind tunnels swirling
I don’t know what to do.
Awake now, I look around
I’m lying helpless on the ground
No one around for me to be found
This is must be the sad zoo.
Do you know the sad zoo?
This is the sad zoo…
…This zoo moves.
My life appears normal,
The daily hum-drum routine draws on and on.
Yet, still I feel as if it’s not me doing it.
I am here, in the sad zoo.
I can see me eating, working, sleeping, living,
But from behind the glass of my enclosure.
This is my cage. It is a mirror, but I can see through it.
I watch me like others watch me – nothing unusual or special here.
Yet I’m trapped in the sad zoo.
The sad zoo, which moves so I can follow me around,
Trapped behind this invisible barrier,
So thin you tell me it’s easy to break through…
…but I can’t.
But who cares? Why do I matter?
Too many questions…
Why is this zoo empty?
How did I get here? Is it my zoo?
How did I become so normal? I’m NOT normal! I’M DIFFERENT!
Hmm…. My cage is soundproof.
Even I didn’t hear me.
But I yelled, I know I did. Is my voice really so small?
This zoo has been dug deep into my core.
I can feel it, like a black hole inside of me that keeps getting bigger.
Bottomless, empty, blackness, a pit.
I’m alone in my head.
I’m hungry, but food has no taste.
I’m thirsty, but the water feels dry.
I have sight, but the colours are faded.
I am able, but I can’t make myself move.
This is the sad zoo.
I am in the sad zoo…
…Come visit me?
Copyright © Elaine Ho | Year Posted 2016
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