Purgatory

Veils we have donned as we tread through life,

woven from shadow,

fading us into the backlight.

Cloaked, shields up, lips sealed,

Ghosts in the flesh,

Observing without observation.

Here is comfort,

here is sanctuary,

A defense against the nature of humanity.

But human nature knows no deception,

It is indestructible,

permanent,

inscribed in the essence of our being,

So as the walls of our protection encircle us, promising escape,

The deep ache of longing betrays us.

We crave that which causes pain,

The warmth, the love, the connection

We fear it,

choose to conceal ourselves from it,

But there is no escape from the hollow that fills us,

the emptiness that floods our veins,

The only remedy being,

that which terrifies us.

Forever suspended in purgatory, Caught between the cravings of human nature,

and the prisons of our own making.