Suffocate

Sharp, ragged breaths in murky air
Where sinewy muscles strain and throb
Beneath the weight of heavy worlds
And backs bent by shaking, whispered sobs.
A darkness thick, a darkness black
Like pools of bloody tar,
Crushing down and pushing past
The stability that burdens mar.
Flooding in and filling up,
The fragile tendrils' crafty wreaths
Bear down forcefully from overhead
And slam upwards from underneath.

Decimating,
Reverberating,
Shaken mournful cries
Rise up and thrash and scream
From what within the darkness lies.

Infiltrate
And permeate
And corrupt without a pause,
Shredded flesh and ashen earth,
And sickly, blackened claws.

If one can be preyed upon
By things that emanate from deep within,
If one can choose to dim their voice
Amidst their internal, conflicting din;
If one can be ravaged by that burning hunger,
Fall victim to that human plight,
If one can succumb to darkness,
Can one not create a light?