Is it true?

There's an emptiness inside me...  

An emptiness inside this place...  

Attempts have been made to create a home,  

A family of sorts,  

But the tide always comes in  

And carries the sand away...  

The moon reflects off the water,  

Broken by the rippling waves...  

Stars above and below  

Sending light from the distant past,  

Light years away  

Across the cold vast of space...  

Nothing up there is close enough to touch...  

Nothing down here can close the distance...  

I miss human touch,  

But I can't afford the cost of misunderstanding...  

And there has always been misunderstanding...  

Do you love me,  

Or do you love what I represent?  

Do you know me,  

Or am I just a blank canvas  

For your illusions to be painted on?  

The face seems familiar...  

The situation seems to recall déja vu...  

Like some distant dream fading on waking...  

How does an entire universe  

Fade so quickly?  

I used to want to wade in the lukewarm tidepools warmed by the sun...  

I used to flip mossy rocks  

Looking for signs of life...  

Salamanders and centipedes...  

Toads, and worms, snakes, and bugs...  

Everything was alive then,  

Ripe berries on every thornbush...  

Dew clinging to the grass in the morning  

Shattering the sunlight into art...

Spiderwebs still living,

Freshly tended by the orb-weavers,

Hung precisely across the forest paths...

The smell of the earth was rich...

But now 

Everything is liminal space...

An eternity of transition...

Flickering fluorescent tubes in a dead mall...

Water damaged yellow carpet and beige walls in windowless corridors that go on for miles...

A low roar from the vents hinting at the passage of air...

Is it recirculating what's inside,

Or is it inviting fresh from somewhere outside?  

I usually sleep with the lights on...  

Not so much white room torture,  

But a homogeneity of day vs. night...  

Everything runs together after a while...  

Sometimes I can differentiate and see hope through the pinhole in the door,  

But is it true...  

Is the fisheye view real?  

Or is it just a tease to keep me weak?  

The sun is bright and hot outside,  

Global warming a proven thing,  

And it forces me beneath my mossy rock...  

Protecting my shimmering skin   

From intense UV bleaching...  

Protecting my shimmering mind  

From the unwarranted attention of others who would use it as sustenance...  

Predation by the ravening wolves who have no soul of their own...  

I've lost little bits of it along the way...  

Small pieces of soul that never seem to grow back...  

Given away like grammar school Valentine's day cards,  2" x 3.5"...