In the solitude, I lay expiring

wondering what if, how come, why –

Staring at the white walls of wanderlust;

a canvas for possibility and

purgatory.

How many minutes of a life spent away

thinking, not acting –

what to show for oneself save the etchings on the wall

marking the time that has no meaning?

Confined to a space, a place, a state of mind –

a choice, or manifest destiny?

Held captive by the puppeteer, the prison guard

the hospital staff, the guardian assigned

the lifeguard on duty.

How powerless are we to define our own existence –

one of our own making but at the mercy

of our own mind?

In the silence, I hear agony –

the cries the pain the amorphic abyss of ambiguity

clawing at the hollow insides of human captivity;

A temple for transcendence

timelessness

torture;

A house set on fire.

In isolation, I am deteriorating

Finding fault in a system that promised community.