we are naught
but pawns on someone
else’s board despite
our best attempts
at being ourselves
we have little
control over how
their perceptions
discolor our truth
as we become lesser
than in their games
of obsessive malaise

i am no dream
just a nightmare
as yet unfulfilled
ask the long line
of former flames
who snuffed themselves
rather than allow
my fire to singe
their lovely souls