what is it about me

that I do not fit

that all the spaces within me

I either overflow or cannot fill?

is it that I want too much

or not enough?

are my feelings too strong

for this world

or do they pale in comparison to the vibrant

living forces

that surround me, fill me, and haunt

the deepest caverns of my heart?

am I a coward?

is the prey I stalk

in my lion's skin

naught but a shadow, or worse

the whimper of a child's fate?

I want to be bold

to fill my being with the demand

behold that I am

I am, against all odds

untouched

by the suffering, the breaking, the longing

untouched

do not love me

what would you have me give in return?

a trinket of my heart's desire

a tiny blue flame

from my inner fire?

it will be blown out by the winds that stir

in the infinity between your heart

and mine

it will be snuffed

by expectation, that you have taken

what is not freely given

a conquest, a triumph,

a loss

no, I cannot light your

inner darkness

in truth, the glowing bonfire that is

my passion

cannot even light my own

what a pitiful creature

my heart,

my will, my being

such sad company I keep.

songs of glory filling the

deep abyss

waiting for an echo

which never returns.