Black Gloved Hands

With unsteady hands I grip the bars
Of my eroding cage
A fortune in lies told
To a tainted reflection

Voices - growing near
I deny myself a glance
Sight a privileged freedom
And so undeserved

Crumbling stone beneath my fingers
Dust falls in cascades
Dry and silent
Dead

So close to earth
I can feel hell
Burning beneath the surface
It calls to me

-come and join the celebration-
-bathe in searing flesh-
-and through this see the monster-
-you've always been-

It calls to me
I welcome its touch
I know what I am
But it scares me

And then the call
From behind the bars
It promises opportunity
It promises light

It doesn't promise enough
I am a monster
I need to suffer
The warm ground beneath, it beckons

And so I sit
Behind eroding cage
Listening to the voices
Always talking, calling

Dust falls in cascades
From my clenched fists
I say nothing
No choices, no movements

A shadow falls over me
Blocking the light
A hand reaches through the bars
No words

All to do is take the hand
The hand belonging to smiling eyes
I look down at dust-covered skin
Don't touch and it won't spread

Black gloved hand beckons through the bars
Shadowed silhouette against the light
To stay in hell or to escape
Hell is where the monsters live

I am a monster

Two hands through my barred domain
Slowly removing black gloves
Reveal a secret suffering
One dust covered hand, one clean

-come and join the celebration-
-bathe in searing flesh-
-and through this see the monster-
-you've always been-

Unsteadily I take one dust covered hand
And step away from the bars
I look behind me as I walk away
A million shadows left behind

I am a monster

Dust falls in cascades
From my clenched fists
But still I hope to see the day
Where I can wash away the dirt

But it will always call to me.