Lighter Than Darkness

Be not so quick to relegate

A tired existence to the ledge

Off onto the mind’s very edge

Where darkness and madness meld

To a new form of insanity.

What is it you seek out there?

Reason? Solace? Rationale?

Justifiable cause, for the thin sliver

Of your minor existence, in a crowd

Of seven billion jostling souls?

You who are plugged into the Matrix,

Retract your mind,

You alone are powerful.

Better to seek your freedom, than to

Focus your energies on discovering

Your lonely self to be utterly dependent

On the custom of the indifferent

For the self-validation of a reality

That should be your own, but isn’t

Because you never even knew

When you gave it away.

That lack of control is your own fault.

Your cross to bear, for all the times

You – hurt, torn, beaten, cursed – suffered,

Under the yolk of those who you empowered

To be the masters of your happiness.

Nothing, you say?

You granted that wish long ago

When you gave yourself into

Slavery; trudging after that elusive sense

Of self-worth, that follows you

If you would but turn around to see it.

Instead, choose to be something

Independent of the lives around you

Certain of your own destiny

Creator of your own fate.

And then maybe you will see

The worth of people around you change

To reflect your own transition

Into a being higher than they

Cloaked in humility

Lighter than darkness.