Shadows dance near the edges

Of a tearful, troubled mind.                 

They call it Shadow Land:

A place where broken dreams

Die a slow, lonely death.

 

The heart still beats deliberately, 

In a chest that has forgotten

How to breathe deeply and fully.

The mind gradually slows to a crawl.

Awareness shuts down as systems

Switch on automatically.

 

Eyes stare straight ahead

Without a glimmer of hope.

The need for movement ceases.

Yet still, the heart pumps on in

A  body filled with bleak despair.

 

Age has taken its toll on lips

That have forgotten how to form

A smile that once lit up a room.

He dozes for a while–oblivious

To all the sounds around him.

 

He finally stirs, moving

Like some kind of  marionette,

Sitting up and putting his feet

On the floor, one foot at a time.

He leaves his house and starts 

His solitary journey down the street.

 

No one realizes the courage it takes

For him to walk one step forward,

To stop and say hello to people

While walking down the street.

There is a kind of determination, 

He finds, in trying to survive

One more day without hope.

Yu/stan/kema