Can’t Let Go of His Inner Darkness

By Linda Crate

tapestries fall at your feet as if you’re a king,

and everyone holds you in such contempt no

one is fooled by your facsimile of kindness —

yet you seem unashamed of what you are as 

if embracing the chimera within is the only

way you can proceed with your life, you’ll

never extinguish the fire to become the man

you were meant to be, you would rather be

the person that is feared instead of loved; it’s

your choice to sink in the loneliness of black.