OUTSIDE

All it took was a blink

The world he knew lost in a journal of ink

All alone in a realm he always cowered from

He never feared before

For what harm could befall a shadow?

But what to do when the shadow was cursed to be man

Sent to gather as others do

Forced to speak to those he watched in silence

Seduce those he considered fools

Lest he dies a lonely lad

He wasn't ready, never ready for what his virgin eyes witnessed

A world of deceit and dissimulation

Where one would end another all for a penny

A world corrupt beyond redemption

Where compassion was long buried never to resurface

He could not go back

Let alone hide in his cellar

For each man had a role to play

To keep the wheel of time spinning