a fading smile

In shadows where I cannot stand,  
I wander through a world that feels so unreal,  
The air thick with an unnameable weight,  
Like a thick fog, swallowing all light.  

I look around, but the faces fade,  
Each smile feels like a distant echo,  
A haunting flicker of a joy I once knew,  
All of it slipping through my fingers,  
Like grains of sand in an hourglass lost.  

Always sad, this heart heavy with grief,  
But now the sadness has morphed,  
It twists and clings, a darkened vine,  
Wrapping tighter with each passing day,  
Squeezing out the breath of hope.  

The pain inside, once a quiet whisper,  
Now roars like a tempest, relentless and raw,  
Draining me slowly, stealing my voice,  
Leaving only shadows where dreams used to wander.  

I float through moments, a mere specter,  
Caught between the vibrant world and the void,  
I search for meaning, for a flicker of light,  
Yet the darkness wraps close, a shroud I can't shake,  
Each step heavier, each breath a burden.  

Where do I turn? What path lies ahead?  
I grasp at threads of possibility,  
But they unravel in my desperate hands,  
And though I long to find my way back,  
Each attempt pulls me deeper into the mist.  

I scream in silence, my heart a lonely drum,  
Hoping for a hand to pull me from this abyss,  
Yet the echoes return unanswered,  
Just the haunting reminder of what was lost.  

In this vast emptiness, I stumble and fall,  
No safety net to catch my descent,  
And as the darkness closes in,  
I realize the truth:  
Here in this silence, I am utterly alone,  
A fading whisper in a world that has forgotten me.