pages turned and bodies burned

by: iski

i stood on a podium with a speech in mind

to profess my gratitude for my fulfilled desires.

i gazed in front only to see blazing souls and flesh.

they had crawled out of the abysmal depths of hell —

scathed. blood had trickled from the burns they housed.

they traded stares with me through their soulless eyes,

and i perched in grief, watching distant ages of myself.

a kid bathed in tears from a mother’s abandonment

a teen doused in sweat from a ceaseless job shift

an adult dressed in blood from a past slaughter spree.

i was all alone and will forever be on my own.