the pounding walls of fear
beating, pulsing in my head
rising and descending

like ritual panic

my entire being becomes

engulfed, encircled
in a never ending maze
of sound and sight


lungs enhale the vacuum
the nothingness of the unknown

inhaling the fear that forever flows
pulsing, beating, rushing from my heart


no escape, petrified, paralized
pulses of blood beat harder within
the black outer skin of a grotesque charade

masquerade in airless cell
the prison of the mind, a blackened shell