I had been dreaming about loneliness

Alone in bed, alone in a room

I looked out the window through the parted space curtains

The night was unusually bright

Even though the moon barely hung on its peg

I lied awake with a thundering heart hard to calm

Nerves crawling up my spine

Hammering my mind

Jitters in a world gone mad

I recalled how I never fit in

Even directly after birth

I was placed in a corner

To mingle with the shadows on a blue wall

And it went from there

Always surrounded it seemed

Always trying to break free

From the shackles of the human condition

Always forced to fit

Into a place, a space

I did not belong

Always forced into the machine

Headfirst, fear first

Renditioned to be

Everything I never wanted to be

Why do we stunt the growth of artists and creators

For a lifeless, dead-end “opportunity”

Enslaved to a system that does not honor the heart and soul

The grandeur of life replaced by a worthless pursuit in a cube

The best of us derailed

To be alone in a world of billions

Left to find comfort in the veil of a space curtain

And a smattering of wishing stars.