Locked away in solitude, in lingering long shadows, I remain.
Phantoms adrift on seas of rage, tormented souls so full of pain.
Gasps of ghosts converge upon me, haunting whispers of sins sublime.
They scuttle, scurry — leave me searching, groping for a safety line.


I dwell within the cold, cruel confines of a hopeless, shattered mind.
In dungeons deep the soulless sleep, it seems I'm one of them, I find.
Sweet Mother Earth yawns, beckoning — her open maw is cold and damp.
The inky darkness shields her pawns, no light emits from bedside lamp.


I've witnessed so much pain and sadness, scenes of better bygone days, 
revelations of what awaits me, with no hope to change my ways.
Steel bars give little comfort, no protection from the world outside, 
Is this how it's going to be — is there none in whom I can confide? 


No sense of how things ought to be, no comprehensive wizened sneer, 
a shattered mind just marking time, I yearn to be away from here. 
Remorse has faded with the dusk, with sharpened nails I bid — so long. 
My springs are laced with scents of musk, and in the earth's where I belong. 

Locked away in solitude, in lingering long shadows, I remain.
Whom do I offer gratitude for suffering this life of pain?