CHALK OUTLINE

Is this what I've been reduced to? Introduced to a misconstrued view of induced Truth and obtuse confusion? An intrusion of the highest degree, a sight to see, illusions: Sleep. Upon the asphalt, the blackened street: a lifeless body sprawled on concrete. Obsolete! I'm depleted! At last breath I am defeated! I've contended, competed, I've been erased, deleted! Narcissistic! Conceited! Who ARE these people?? Under your thumb I've existed, under your scrutinizing gaze; Depraved puppeteers have persisted for days! They eradicate the weak, such a morbid endeavor! The levers crank, we're on the plank: Plummet into the pit forever! So clever, yes, full of tricks and traps! Twisted maps lead to relapse...so indignant due to the malignant behavior of these broken down traitors who claim to be saviors! They engrave an epitaph...on my tombstone, then laugh! Jeering and sneering as they slander my past! My poor heart is capacious, she has held copious pain! A soldier! Survivor! No victim of shame! Audacious I was! Caught in a high speed chase! Eluding the law, creating a case! Cuffed on my wrists then thrown in a cage! Oh! And how many days I sat in that place! They invaded my ways of being depraved! Stripped of addiction! My mask was confiscated! Evidence that I was truly extricated. Freed from the trap which I put myself in! A cycle of indulgence, pleasure and sin. Break the chains! Break the chains! Let me out of this cell! Allow convalescence to settle: may my body be well! Toxins are purged! Desires submerged! A new creation emerges, something diverse! Break the curse! Unload the hearse! Prepare a song of praising verse! Gates open wide, up off my knees! Prayers answered! No reason to weep! My God has claimed my soul to keep! My life is His intricate design and as for my past?...I left it behind...somewhere lifeless...with a chalk outline...

-Kelly M. Gregory-???