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The scent is all around me
It follows everywhere
I’m trying to escape it
But it carries in the air

It’s in an upstairs bedroom
It’s even in a hall
You’ll awake to find it lingers
Like some unwanted pall

I don’t know how to stop it
Because I’m only weak
It has no form nor body
But does not cease to speak

I can’t go on much longer
Before I’ll lose my mind
The ones we cherish dearly
Can no longer see how blind

The essence which has cost me
My sanity and grace
Has taken all I’ve worked for
And thrown it in my face

I’m drowning in my sorrows
I’m dying on my feet
I’m losing every vestige
That made my life complete

The walls know of my anguish
They’re hearing every prayer
They hear my heart pound loudly
They’re the only ones that care

I’m eaten up with teardrops
Which fall so far within
My body shakes with sobbing
But I can’t take Berlin

I’m a simple soul who longs for
The peace that used to be
I’ve been smashed against the doorway
From wherein I once was free

I’m engaged in mortal combat
With a foe who doesn’t know
Of the pain that’s been inflicted
On a soul that’s been laid low

And how do I respond to
A scent which has no form
How do I react to
Being someone’s pawn

There’s three in this equation
They don’t add up to two
There’s one who’s dead or dying
I know it isn’t you

I’m crawling on my heartstrings
I’m trying to be brave
I’m swimming in oblivion
Swamped by wave on wave

The depths that I’ve encountered
Are known by just a few
I’m not looking for your pity
But empathy is true

Is there anyone outside there
Who feels the pain I feel
I know I’m not alone here
But that’s the way I feel

I’m begging for some comfort
From one who’s been this road
I need to know it’s normal
To bear this heavy load

Have any of you seen it
This place I’m passing through
It’s a very lonely passage
That I am going through

I know that many have been
Along this road before
But I’m overwhelmed and sorry
That my broken heart is torn

Did you ever get as angry
As the way I’m feeling now
Did you want to rise and turn on
The enemy and how

Did you manage to defeat it
I’ll take all you can give
I’m after ammunition
To enable me to live

My fingertips know nothing
Of hanging anymore
I’ve fallen from the summit
I’m spread across the floor

My heart is laid before you
You can see it for yourself
Pick it up and place it
In a jar upon a shelf

My humanity is shredded
And my confidence is gone
Any bits of me around you
Don’t add up to being one

I’m not half of what I once was
I register as nil
The shell which held my spirit
Received a bitter pill

One day I had a future
One day I had a life
One day is all it took you
To smell the scent that’s rife

Which has gassed all of the reason
And left their brains devoid
Of all that went before now
Which many have enjoyed

The brainwashed have no purpose
But to follow where their bid
No one can get through to them
Their sight stops at their lids

The reason why I suffer
I cannot understand
I’ve tried to learn their language
I’ve walked across your land

You hear thoughts inside you
I hear none at all
I’m lying, lost and useless
I’m a brick in any wall

The furniture we live with
Has a function to be used
But my heart’s been extracted
And wilfully abused

Relationships are easy
Relationships are hard
Relationships mean nothing
When one of them is chard

By the fire and heat and searing
Of some meat upon a spit
Or broiled and boiled and roasted
And drained of any wit

Which kept my spirit living
And got me through my day
Thrown to the dogs of fire
I’m truly man of clay

My God, why do I suffer
Is it to run my course
Am I being worked and tempered
By some blacksmith with such force

That I’m broken whole and flattened
While you sit keeping watch
Weighing my responses
To this cruel and painful touch

As the heart that I had given
So readily before
Must mend itself without you
And survive each day once more

But I need a lover’s presence
To complete my earthly role
I’m a rose that has no flower
I’ve a thorn inside my soul

The morning dew which soothes us
When the nightmares have all gone
Will find me crying acid
It’s the fluid I’ve become

I’ve never known such anguish
I’ve never seen such fear
I stoop before this mirror
Who’s that wraith that I see here

Excellent heartrendering piece.
Georges

Dear Byron,

It takes courage to show yourself so vulnerable. Your words find the comforter in me. Your expression returns me to where I've been, and I hope for this to be an old poem, that you've only recently decided to share.

~Elizabeth