Despair

Despair

One who feeds emotion cruel
to shred the center far within.
Cannot! Cannot! But cannot bear
to be without, all hopes are pinned.

The soul is torn, the heart is gasped,
like winded horses fallen down
in thorns and briars of the day.
Respite is night from all around.

A whipped forgotten pup am I,
pleading for attention from
the captors of my hope and joy.
Remain in place, my mind struck dumb.

If freed still bound by fate and luck,
I do not act, still frozen fear
am acted on, a cog or spoke
devoid of soul do I appear.

I want but cannot have myself
or any other now. Within
myself a longing deep to seize
her oft-reflected shine. A need,
a thirst of love is not appeased.

Agreed, I am lost and too perplexed
to lure, to seize, to beg or steal
the final object of my dreams.
I cannot bear to see the mirror.

So who am I? Asking none
and knowing less beyond the need:
the need of love, another heart,
a single soul is all I plead.