In silence wrapped, this hollow shell, Marks etch the tales I'm loth to tell, A heart once full, now void, amiss, Tends wounds that fall to the abyss. Emotions locked in cages grim, Tears refuse to brim the brim, In darkened solitude, I roam, A vacant echo, far from home. The man I was fades into night, Bereft of warmth, devoid of light, Words and feelings lost, immaterial, Adrift in oceans cold, ethereal. Yet in this darkness, faintly yearned, The ashes of hope slowly burn, A whisper faint from depths unplumbed, That all is not eternally numbed.