Upside Down

Everything is upside down, and I cannot see why

I stare at myself and fall apart

There's something wrong and gnawing at my peace of mind

The shadows I've learned to cradle and conceal

They are the shadows in my mind, and I embrace them

They spark my soul and fill my quiet thoughts

We laugh and we mingle together 

They are my friends - cut from the same cloth

Yet I keep one quiet thing locked away

An unspeakable ache that causes profound misery

They confirmed nothing is wrong,

I should feel no guilt and to be strong

To die is to forget and to forget is to die

A dream to wake, an unfinished goodbye

The mortal sleep is done, the shadows flee; 

I smile to see them step into the free

My perspective is skewed, or so people tell me

I don't deny their words or feelings

But I promise I'm not duplicitous

This is my core truth

Drowning in sadness, paralyzed by fear, and fractured by hardship

To exit to an empty quiet

To leave my audience mesmerized 

Masking my true emotions

Walking alongside lifelong phantoms

A premature goodbye

To silence the chaos brought by my inner circle

Everything is upside down, and I cannot see why

I stare at myself and fall apart

I can’t do right for doing wrong

And so, I live to break this curse