she tells me the story
of shackles and plain walls
and time that extends just short
of infinity — she makes me feel
ungrateful

i reach into the darkness
between the stars
in hopes of grabbing peace
or sleep — anything to feel
better about freedom
and loss.

she laughs as she tells me
the long song of hurt
and aloneness and humanity
in gray purgatory

i am awake — almost
free i think
until i realize the bars
the shackles
— prison is my fear and ignorance