Wedged between sadness and lost hope,

my hands gripping the cold granite around me.

Trapped between dismay and mourning,

my body, numb from the lack of blood

no longer circulating my limbs.

I was once free.

I once flew across the skies,

my spirit unleashed,

my soul unbound,

negative musings absent,

only the winds of peace,

the songs of joy

and the warmth of belief

in a future greater than

a past happier than

my present accompany me,

floating across the clouds

of existence.

But since tragedy has befallen my existence,

and mauled my naïveté,

and inflicted a shocked disbelief into me,

and impaled me with the sharp, piercing pain of tramua,

I am trapped here.

an ocean with no water,

a galaxy without stars,

a planet with no sun,

slowly feeling my bones bending,

my ribcage straining,

ankles twisting,

as my walls of pain squeeze me tighter.

I am afraid.

I have always been

claustrophobic.