Staring

Can I stare
Into this blank cold face
Of despair and
Touch the horrors
Seeping there,  
Grasp the cold edge of
Its whetted knife, the
Hard force of the thrust
In, bypass the
Rack and torture
To release this prison
Iron and stroll free into
Nothingness and
Pledges unfulfilled - I
Wedge my head between
Its jaws, hearing roars
Resound the great,
Rough throat and
See a thousand thousand
Pains of ice and burn -
All bloody and
All mine - when may I be
Absolved of relentless
Time's duress, when
May I spread some wings
And flying, suppress
All of this darkness and
Rise to meet the dawn.
When does life begin -
These dungeons become
Mere dream, the unreal
Nightmares of pain fading
To grey as eyes open
Warily onto light.

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