Burnt

The echoes drive me
from wall to wall....
escape this accursed place before I fall.
Voices scream, cry, curse....
How long till I realize that the voice is my own?
Eyes empty....pain overwhelming.
How long till I understand that my raving falls on deaf ears...?
that insanity is just a state of mind,
and that approach is imminent?

There is no rescue,
there is no survival....
but for that which I wrench up
from the inner core of my being deep....
Fingers gripped around the single source,
the light of the spirit,
from which I can arise again...

I stand in the fire.
I burn in the flames until only ash remains.
And the only sound
that permeates the stillness
is a single heartbeat.

DLD/01AUG07