Overcast by the shadow for the spotlight of your pain
Your cries comrade to my words spoken in vain

I am eclipsed by your suffering
What I endure is a burden unseen
You can read every word that I write and still won’t get what I mean

The weight of life and the will to survive
Wasting my time on the will to thrive

Making a living while running in place
Sold short and cut down at every turn of this race
I trace my steps in hours for bread
The pay scale is off balance and the current is dead

Every dollar is a cross
Dying for gold and bankrupt for affection
Fleeting joys betray memory to loss
As I stand in the firing squad of social rejection

Criticism lurking at every turn
Learning to try to salvage a sense of immunity to care
Seeking ways to numb affliction
Sedate the nerve but the problem is still there

Bleeding out in silence when concern is short lived
When I’m treated like I’m dead before a final breath
Every effort feels in vain when it’s a one sided give
As I seek for redemption but I’m fighting with death

In a love-hate relationship with my ways
You don’t know the half of it and you don’t care to see
As I endure the endless monotony of penny worth days
I slave in the heat and no one sees me…