Today I feel a stranger in my own skin. 

Plunged backward into an old, familiar feeling. 

Trapped inside my body, I’m not in control. 

This nightmare has returned home again 

to the comfort of the darker places of my mind,  

where a shroud hangs over my eyes

and my heart is drowned in sticky blackness. 

Today I do not know where I’ve gone. 

Retreated to the recesses of that still, safe place

where my consciousness hides

tucked away from harm and love alike.  

Where are my bearings?

I don’t know up from down, nor east from west. 

I have no sense of depth or being. 

The ringing in my ears is my only companion. 

 

Where have you gone, oh little one,

and how will you be found again?

Who is it that will seek you out

when you make not a peep nor tell a soul

of your wonderings?

And how long will you wonder, oh little one?

And when will you come home?

When will you turn on the lantern again

to find your way back once more?

Father is calling and Mother is waiting. 

Return home, oh little one,

to the comfort of your own bed. 

Bring yourself out from the shadows;

they are a poor abode.  

Come back into the light that you

are newly discovering.  

Come back to the safety of more loving arms.  

How long will you hide, oh little one?

 

I dare not lift up my head for fear of discovery. 

What will they see in these pitiful eyes?

Will they see hope and life?

No, but the blank stare of the grave

and the emptiness of a lifeless corpse.  

This heart of mine, 

having tasted the sweetness of air

now chokes once more on bile 

and soot and ashes.  

But this is not my home.

So why then do I make here my bed

and lay myself down to sleep death’s slumber?

Is this not my place?

Is this not my dwelling?

 

Come back, oh, come back, oh little one. 

You are not so far gone. 

Just turn around and walk back out of the fog

that surrounds you. 

The sun breaks the grasp of night

and waits to smile once more upon you.  

Won’t you turn your face once more

to the warmth of day?

Oh, little one, where have you gone?