Pegasus2001

The Chase
Ben Baker
Second Place, Poetry
Roswell High School

The voice screams its anguish,
While I search the empty room
For some sign of safety.
All I find in the cavernous hall
Is a shining, crystal-clear mirror,
And I run from myself,

I throw open the door to life,
Find the world resting at my fingertips,
Yet, still it is leagues in the distance.
For once in my solitary lifetime,
I curse the void that cuts me off.
That horrible voice hounds me,
And I cry for some escape.

I press my face against the windowpane,
Staring out into the limitless planes of the mind,
Asking why I should be bound by this hunger,
When I can never satisfy it.
The taunting voice echoes off the bare walls,
Eternally drawn to my waiting ears,
Finding weakness and cutting to the core,
And I weep for a stream of lost opportunities.

As the faceless voice grows louder,
Striking more quickly and drawing more blood,
My rage heats to form a spark.
My anxiety fans the towering flames,
Forcing me closer to the source of the voice.
Despite my mounting fear, I cast my eyes forward,
And I shirk from what lies before me.

A glowing mirror fills my eyes,
The image within consuming me,
For I have cast my gaze upon the face
From  which the voice has always spoken.
A twisted shadow of my own reflection
Grins sardonically as it shouts forever more,
And I tremble in fear.

All that I hate and all that I fear,
Every nagging worry and every self-doubt,
Each unattainable dream and each hopeless thought,
The emotions that pierce my very soul
Manifest themselves and stare me in the face.
I look deeper within my darker, mocking eyes,
And I steel myself against the flood.

Searching deeper and deeper, I realize
That each and every singly thing
This taunting, prodding, stabbing shade represents
Is that which drives me further on.
When I fall flat, when I lose heart,
This hated demon picks me up, lights the fire,
Urging me onwards, ever onwards, towards the prize.
The grin drops from the face of my demon,
Seeing the revelation in my brand new gaze,
And I chase myself.