Ad Infinitum

"I can make it one more day."

You tell yourself.

Because you have no choice,

Because there are no other possibilities.

And you present a good face to the crowd.

But a few can see,

The damage that it's doing

The wounds that you are ignoring.

But most see no further,

Than the mask,

Artful, all but perfect, virtually flawless.

Only a few can see,

And they look at you

With worried frowns or annoyed faces.

"Stop," they say.

Some with concern for your pain,

Others with frustration for your self-pity.

And you tighten your mask.

Because you can't stand the spears of pain,

From hurting others, from friends annoyance.

"It hasn't killed me yet." You say

And shrug off those tiny deaths

That happen everyday.

Until you are so full of pain, so wounded and torn,

That you feel like you can't go on,

Until it takes everything you have to

Wrap yourself in a veneer of life.

But there is always tomorrow

So you close your eyes to yourself and say,

"I can make it one more say."

So you close your eyes to yourself and say,

"It hasn't killed me yet."

 

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