paroxysm

Steve Borreros Romano

Locked away in solitude, within the shadows I remain, awash in a sea of phantoms, adrift in a storm of pain. Ghostly gasps around me, haunting voices of sins described, without a scream, I live this dream, wholly within my shattered mind.

I see a scene of sadness, a vision of days gone by, a revelation of what awaits me here beneath this long-dead sky, these bars they comfort little, to protect me, or those outside, either way, it’s how it’s supposed to be, in a rhapsody I used to hide.

No sense of how things ought to be, no comprehension or logic here, for a frenzied encephalon passes the time, grinning from ear to ear. remorse has long since faded, if ever it did exist, and happiness is overrated, for insanity I call bliss.

Locked away in solitude, within this shadow I’ll remain, wrapped comfortably within madness, with an unsoundness of mind to blame.

Illustration by Emmy Nava