Refraction.

Pure as the Water.

No, I'm not listening-
I can hear you,
But don't expect a response.
There are so many things on my mind,
And the risks are too great to take.
Don't expect an explanation,
Because you'll never understand:
You can't hear the whispers
Within my head-
They don't keep you up at night,
Do they?
I doubt that you've ever felt
Such intense desolation,
Or a fear so ineffable
That your heart loses its rhythm.
It's hard to breathe:
Too hard-
You're dying.
Tell me, have you ever died before?
Have the voices hounded you day
And night-
Have they torn you up deep inside?
There's an exhaustion, a terror,
An isolation so profound:
It would be easier not to live,
And I'm running out of reasons
Not to die.
I am nothing but trapped-
In fear, in pain,
Heckled and threatened
By some entity that you can't see.
And then there's the cycle
Of loveless lust;
Use and abuse.
There are bruises swathed
In lingerie-
Hidden, supposed signs
Of his love.
I suppose they don't matter;
Scars fade,
But my mind refuses to be silent.
I don't care how he treats me
When the alcohol has gone to his head,
For, when he hurts me,
The pain is only temporary.
Thoughts that aren't my own-
Those are the problem.
Apocalyptic and irrational,
Scaremongering and toxic;
A cancer, spreading with haste...
Death draws nearer
With each passing day.
There's no method to this madness
And there's no truth to your lies,
They are pure as the water
That washes away my blood.