My eyes opened to an inky blackness, I stood enveloped and still.
Any comfort quickly vanished as I felt repulsively ill.
It’s not until I tried to move that my mind raced and my heart stopped in an icy chill.
These chains which bound my limbs to stone were secured against my will.
I twisted and writhed with all my might but this steel was just too great.
The fight ensued with rabid cries as flesh met chains of hate.
My heart now pounded a murderous rage, the chains pulled taut and strained.
The blood ran freely down this skin, these wounds were all I’d gained.
My binds went slack and I collapsed exhausted and losing of hope.
Through the oppressive darkness my bruising hands began to grope.
As my fingers clawed the stone and steel I felt suddenly provoked.
With deafening silence bearing down I stood up straight and spoke.
I talked of all the things gone wrong, of life and its demise.
I talked of people walked upon and all the unheard cries.
I grasped my anger and resentment and began to verbalize.
“The world is damned, there is no hope! Does that come as a surprise!?”
The hours passed and I grew faint but still I shouted strong.
I raised my hands and yelled louder still, daring the darkness to prove me wrong.
Then lights flicked on and I stood shocked as I stared across the throng.
Surrounding me was every person I knew and some I’d thought long gone.
At first they stood in silence, soaking in my tattered appearance and blatant flaws.
But then what started with a single clap rose to a thunderous applause.
Some stood with tears and some with smiles but all of them stood proud;
To say that they all know a man who spoke against the crowd.
