Poem: The Void

 by Dawn Sands

They stand there, together in physicality, but miles apart in any other sense.
Alone, locked within the opaque parameters of their two-foot bubble
A bubble that can expand, can move
but doesn’t.
It is a matter of choice, but choice is no longer an option.
No longer an option when options are forgotten.
No longer an option when everything is forgotten;
flung far into that void where thoughts are spoken only in whispers,
to nobody.
And as they stand there, together in physicality, but miles apart in any other senseー
they could choose to talk, to expel the void
but they don’t
and the void deepens; it hurtles towards transcendence,
through transcendence,
beyond transcendence.
They are past help.
Every tick of the stubborn clock of their lives
counts down to zero.

Separation is not what separates.
The void lives inside everyone; we each have the key
but when the key is turned, your world descends into chaos
And you become one of them.