by Nick Gisburne
I long for life, at last, to fade away
Its prison is too empty to endure
I cannot bear to breathe for one more day
Oblivion, forever, is the cure
Endurance is no reason to exist
Participation does not win a prize
What punishment, what unrelenting fist
Assails this broken body I despise?
A velvet touch of nothingness, a dream
A loving mother’s skin-to-skin embrace
In sleep, for peace, for sweet release, I scream
But wake to find the torment of this place
A carcass, kept alive against my will
I long for death, to let my soul be still
