Entrenched

Will I find you in the bottle? 

That dark and lonely place, 

Where thoughts fly free 

In darkened, shaded spaces? 

Will I find you in the smoke 

Of another oblivion? 

That peaceful place

Where life stands still

And hate is not so feeling. 

No. 

You are lost to me. 

As lost as words 

That dance upon a page of white. 

You are benign and malignant, 

You are cancer and fire. 

Even the painter cannot capture you

With all his paints and canvas. 

You are the muse of the tortured, 

The self-righteous and unashamed. 

You are haunting like a ghost

And no less fearful. 

You incite a rage and a hiding 

That makes even the bravest men weep. 

To battle you is to battle the darkness. 

Swallowing whole, 

I am entrenched in your values of silence.